After losing 9.2% in the past year, The Great Eastern Shipping Company Limited (NSE:GESHIP) institutional owners must be relieved by the recent gain

Key Insights

• Given the large stake in the stock by institutions, Great Eastern Shipping's stock price might be vulnerable to their trading decisions
• 51% of the business is held by the top 11 shareholders
• 25% of Great Eastern Shipping is held by insiders

Trump has pledged to "unleash" American oil and gas and these 15 US stocks have developments that are poised to benefit.

If you want to know who really controls The Great Eastern Shipping Company Limited (NSE:GESHIP), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 37% to be precise, is institutions. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

Institutional investors would appreciate the 8.8% increase in share price last week, given their one-year losses have totalled a disappointing 9.2%.

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

See our latest analysis for Great Eastern Shipping

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Great Eastern Shipping?

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 Great Eastern Shipping 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. 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 Great Eastern Shipping's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

Great Eastern Shipping is not owned by hedge funds. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is Ravi Sheth with 12% of shares outstanding. Bharat Sheth is the second largest shareholder owning 11% of common stock, and Canara Robeco Asset Management Company Limited holds about 5.1% of the company stock. Bharat Sheth, who is the second-largest shareholder, also happens to hold the title of Chief Executive Officer.

A closer look at our ownership figures suggests that the top 11 shareholders have a combined ownership of 51% implying that no single shareholder has a majority.

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 Great Eastern Shipping

The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. The company management answer to the board and the latter should represent the interests of shareholders. Notably, sometimes top-level managers are on the board themselves.

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.

Our information suggests that insiders maintain a significant holding in The Great Eastern Shipping Company Limited. It is very interesting to see that insiders have a meaningful ₹39b stake in this ₹151b business. 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, who are usually individual investors, hold a 33% stake in Great Eastern Shipping. While this group can't necessarily call the shots, it can certainly have a real influence on how the company is run.

Private Company Ownership

We can see that Private Companies own 4.6%, of the shares on issue. Private companies may be related parties. Sometimes insiders have an interest in a public company through a holding in a private company, rather than in their own capacity as an individual. While it's hard to draw any broad stroke conclusions, it is worth noting as an area for further research.

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. Consider for instance, the ever-present spectre of investment risk. We've identified 2 warning signs with Great Eastern Shipping , and understanding them should be part of your investment process.

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.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.

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.