While individual investors own 20% of Indian Railway Catering & Tourism Corporation Limited (NSE:IRCTC), state or government are its largest shareholders with 63% ownership

Key Insights

• Significant control over Indian Railway Catering & Tourism by state or government implies that the general public has more power to influence management and governance-related decisions
• The largest shareholder of the company is India with a 62% stake
• Institutions own 17% of Indian Railway Catering & Tourism

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A look at the shareholders of Indian Railway Catering & Tourism Corporation Limited (NSE:IRCTC) can tell us which group is most powerful. We can see that state or government own the lion's share in the company with 63% ownership. That is, the group stands to benefit the most if the stock rises (or lose the most if there is a downturn).

And individual investors on the other hand have a 20% ownership in the company.

Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of Indian Railway Catering & Tourism, beginning with the chart below.

View our latest analysis for Indian Railway Catering & Tourism

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Indian Railway Catering & Tourism?

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 Indian Railway Catering & Tourism. 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. It is not uncommon to see a big share price drop if two large institutional investors try to sell out of a stock at the same time. So it is worth checking the past earnings trajectory of Indian Railway Catering & Tourism, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in Indian Railway Catering & Tourism. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is India with 62% of shares outstanding. With such a huge stake in the ownership, we infer that they have significant control of the future of the company. For context, the second largest shareholder holds about 9.7% of the shares outstanding, followed by an ownership of 1.3% by the third-largest shareholder.

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 a reasonable number of analysts covering the stock, so it might be useful to find out their aggregate view on the future.

Insider Ownership Of Indian Railway Catering & Tourism

While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. 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 less than 1% of Indian Railway Catering & Tourism Corporation Limited. It's a big company, so even a small proportional interest can create alignment between the board and shareholders. In this case insiders own ₹2.4m worth of shares. Arguably, recent buying and selling is just as important to consider. You can click here to see if insiders have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public-- including retail investors -- own 20% stake in the company, and hence can't easily be ignored. This size of ownership, while considerable, may not be enough to change company policy if the decision is not in sync with other large shareholders.

Next Steps:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Indian Railway Catering & Tourism better, we need to consider many other factors. Case in point: We've spotted 1 warning sign for Indian Railway Catering & Tourism you should be aware of.

Ultimately the future is most important. You can access this free report on analyst forecasts for the company.

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.