Painful week for individual investors invested in The Great Eastern Shipping Company Limited (NSE:GESHIP) after 6.3% drop, institutions also suffered losses

Key Insights

• Great Eastern Shipping's significant individual investors ownership suggests that the key decisions are influenced by shareholders from the larger public
• A total of 11 investors have a majority stake in the company with 50% ownership
• 25% of Great Eastern Shipping is held by insiders

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Every investor in The Great Eastern Shipping Company Limited (NSE:GESHIP) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. We can see that individual investors own the lion's share in the company with 35% ownership. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

While institutions, who own 34% shares weren’t spared from last week’s ₹8.4b market cap drop, individual investors as a group suffered the maximum losses

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

View our latest analysis for Great Eastern Shipping

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

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 Great Eastern Shipping. 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.

We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in Great Eastern Shipping. The company's largest shareholder is Ravi Sheth, with ownership of 12%. With 11% and 5.1% of the shares outstanding respectively, Bharat Sheth and Canara Robeco Asset Management Company Limited are the second and third largest shareholders. Bharat Sheth, who is the second-largest shareholder, also happens to hold the title of Chief Executive Officer.

After doing some more digging, we found that the top 11 have the combined ownership of 50% in the company, suggesting that no single shareholder has significant control over 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 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 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.

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 The Great Eastern Shipping Company Limited. Insiders own ₹32b worth of shares in the ₹125b 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, who are usually individual investors, hold a 35% 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

Our data indicates that Private Companies hold 4.6%, of the company's shares. It might be worth looking deeper into this. If related parties, such as insiders, have an interest in one of these private companies, that should be disclosed in the annual report. Private companies may also have a strategic interest in the company.

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. Case in point: We've spotted 3 warning signs for Great Eastern Shipping you should be aware of, and 1 of them makes us a bit uncomfortable.

If you would prefer discover what analysts are predicting in terms of future growth, do not miss this free report on analyst forecasts .

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.