Astral Limited (NSE:ASTRAL) CEO Sandeep Engineer, the company's largest shareholder sees 3.6% reduction in holdings value

Key Insights

• Astral's significant insider ownership suggests inherent interests in company's expansion
• A total of 4 investors have a majority stake in the company with 54% ownership
• Institutions own 24% of Astral

Every investor in Astral Limited (NSE:ASTRAL) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are individual insiders with 39% ownership. That is, the group stands to benefit the most if the stock rises (or lose the most if there is a downturn).

As market cap fell to ₹362b last week, insiders would have faced the highest losses than any other shareholder groups of the company.

Let's take a closer look to see what the different types of shareholders can tell us about Astral.

View our latest analysis for Astral

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Astral?

Institutions typically measure themselves against a benchmark when reporting to their own investors, so they often become more enthusiastic about a stock once it's included in a major index. We would expect most companies to have some institutions on the register, especially if they are growing.

As you can see, institutional investors have a fair amount of stake in Astral. This suggests some credibility amongst professional investors. But we can't rely on that fact alone since institutions make bad investments sometimes, just like everyone does. 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 Astral's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in Astral. The company's CEO Sandeep Engineer is the largest shareholder with 32% of shares outstanding. In comparison, the second and third largest shareholders hold about 8.5% and 7.6% of the stock. Interestingly, the third-largest shareholder, Jagruti Engineer is also a Member of the Board of Directors, again, indicating strong insider ownership amongst the company's top shareholders.

On looking further, we found that 54% of the shares are owned by the top 4 shareholders. In other words, these shareholders have a meaningful say in the decisions of the company.

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 are plenty of analysts covering the stock, so it might be worth seeing what they are forecasting, too.

Insider Ownership Of Astral

The definition of company insiders can be subjective and does vary between jurisdictions. Our data reflects individual insiders, capturing board members at the very least. 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.

Insider ownership is positive when it signals leadership are thinking like the true owners of the company. However, high insider ownership can also give immense power to a small group within the company. This can be negative in some circumstances.

Our most recent data indicates that insiders own a reasonable proportion of Astral Limited. It is very interesting to see that insiders have a meaningful ₹142b stake in this ₹362b business. Most would be pleased to see the board is investing alongside them. You may wish to access this free chart showing recent trading by insiders.

General Public Ownership

The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a 19% stake in Astral. While this size of ownership may not be enough to sway a policy decision in their favour, they can still make a collective impact on company policies.

Private Company Ownership

It seems that Private Companies own 15%, of the Astral stock. It's hard to draw any conclusions from this fact alone, so its worth looking into who owns those private companies. Sometimes insiders or other related parties have an interest in shares in a public company through a separate private company.

Next Steps:

While it is well worth considering the different groups that own a company, there are other factors that are even more important.

Many find it useful to take an in depth look at how a company has performed in the past. You can access this detailed graph of past earnings, revenue and cash flow.

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.