Recent 7.7% decline may not have gone down well with Westshore Terminals Investment Corporation (TSE:WTE) insiders who've been purchasing recently

Key Insights

• Westshore Terminals Investment's significant insider ownership suggests inherent interests in company's expansion
• The top 3 shareholders own 52% of the company
• Insiders have been buying lately

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If you want to know who really controls Westshore Terminals Investment Corporation (TSE:WTE), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. With 48% stake, individual insiders possess the maximum shares in the company. That is, the group stands to benefit the most if the stock rises (or lose the most if there is a downturn).

And looking at our data, we can see that insiders have bought shares recently. However, with shares price down 7.7% last week, they must be disappointed.

In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of Westshore Terminals Investment.

Check out our latest analysis for Westshore Terminals Investment

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Westshore Terminals Investment?

Many institutions measure their performance against an index that approximates the local market. So they usually pay more attention to companies that are included in major indices.

As you can see, institutional investors have a fair amount of stake in Westshore Terminals Investment. This implies the analysts working for those institutions have looked at the stock and they like it. But just like anyone else, they could be wrong. If multiple institutions change their view on a stock at the same time, you could see the share price drop fast. It's therefore worth looking at Westshore Terminals Investment's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in Westshore Terminals Investment. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is James Pattison with 47% of shares outstanding. For context, the second largest shareholder holds about 2.4% of the shares outstanding, followed by an ownership of 2.3% by the third-largest shareholder.

After doing some more digging, we found that the top 3 shareholders collectively control more than half of the company's shares, implying that they have considerable power to influence the company's decisions.

Researching institutional ownership is a good way to gauge and filter a stock's expected performance. The same can be achieved by studying analyst sentiments. There is a little analyst coverage of the stock, but not much. So there is room for it to gain more coverage.

Insider Ownership Of Westshore Terminals Investment

The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. Management ultimately answers to the board. However, it is not uncommon for managers to be executive board members, especially if they are a founder or the CEO.

Most consider insider ownership a positive because it can indicate the board is well aligned with other shareholders. However, on some occasions too much power is concentrated within this group.

It seems insiders own a significant proportion of Westshore Terminals Investment Corporation. Insiders own CA$703m worth of shares in the CA$1.5b company. That's quite meaningful. Most would say this shows a good degree of alignment with shareholders, especially in a company of this size. You can click here to see if those insiders have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public-- including retail investors -- own 43% stake in the company, and hence can't easily be ignored. While this group can't necessarily call the shots, it can certainly have a real influence on how the company is run.

Next Steps:

I find it very interesting to look at who exactly owns a company. But to truly gain insight, we need to consider other information, too. For instance, we've identified 2 warning signs for Westshore Terminals Investment (1 shouldn't be ignored) that you should be aware of.

But ultimately it is the future, not the past, that will determine how well the owners of this business will do. Therefore we think it advisable to take a look at this free report showing whether analysts are predicting a brighter future .

NB: Figures in this article are calculated using data from the last twelve months, which refer to the 12-month period ending on the last date of the month the financial statement is dated. This may not be consistent with full year annual report figures.

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.