Individual investors are Century Enka Limited's (NSE:CENTENKA) biggest owners and were hit after market cap dropped ₹1.3b

Key Insights

• The considerable ownership by individual investors in Century Enka indicates that they collectively have a greater say in management and business strategy
• A total of 24 investors have a majority stake in the company with 49% ownership
• 14% of Century Enka is held by Institutions

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If you want to know who really controls Century Enka Limited (NSE:CENTENKA), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are individual investors with 51% ownership. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

As a result, individual investors as a group endured the highest losses last week after market cap fell by ₹1.3b.

Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of Century Enka, beginning with the chart below.

Check out our latest analysis for Century Enka

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Century Enka?

Institutional investors commonly compare their own returns to the returns of a commonly followed index. So they generally do consider buying larger companies that are included in the relevant benchmark index.

We can see that Century Enka does have institutional investors; and they hold a good portion of the company's stock. 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 Century Enka, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

Century Enka is not owned by hedge funds. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is Birla Group Holdings Private Limited with 17% of shares outstanding. With 7.9% and 5.8% of the shares outstanding respectively, quant Money Managers Ltd. and Aditya Birla Real Estate Limited are the second and third largest shareholders.

On studying our ownership data, we found that 24 of the top shareholders collectively own less than 50% of the share register, implying that no single individual has a majority interest.

While studying institutional ownership for a company can add value to your research, it is also a good practice to research analyst recommendations to get a deeper understand of a stock's expected performance. Our information suggests that there isn't any analyst coverage of the stock, so it is probably little known.

Insider Ownership Of Century Enka

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.

I generally consider insider ownership to be a good thing. However, on some occasions it makes it more difficult for other shareholders to hold the board accountable for decisions.

Shareholders would probably be interested to learn that insiders own shares in Century Enka Limited. In their own names, insiders own ₹591m worth of stock in the ₹11b company. It is good to see some investment by insiders, but we usually like to see higher insider holdings. It might be worth checking if those insiders have been buying.

General Public Ownership

The general public -- including retail investors -- own 51% of Century Enka. With this amount of ownership, retail investors can collectively play a role in decisions that affect shareholder returns, such as dividend policies and the appointment of directors. They can also exercise the power to vote on acquisitions or mergers that may not improve profitability.

Private Company Ownership

Our data indicates that Private Companies hold 22%, of the company's shares. 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.

Public Company Ownership

Public companies currently own 6.1% of Century Enka stock. We can't be certain but it is quite possible this is a strategic stake. The businesses may be similar, or work together.

Next Steps:

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

Of course this may not be the best stock to buy. Therefore, you may wish to see our free collection of interesting prospects boasting favorable financials.

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.