UltraTech Cement Limited's (NSE:ULTRACEMCO) 4.4% loss last week hit both individual investors who own 59% as well as institutions

A look at the shareholders of UltraTech Cement Limited (NSE:ULTRACEMCO) can tell us which group is most powerful. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 59% to be precise, is public companies. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

While institutions who own 24% came under pressure after market cap dropped to ₹1.8t last week,public companies took the most losses.

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

Before we look at the ownership breakdown, you might like to know that our analysis indicates that ULTRACEMCO is potentially overvalued!

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About UltraTech Cement?

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.

UltraTech Cement already has institutions on the share registry. Indeed, they own a respectable stake in the company. 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 UltraTech Cement, (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 UltraTech Cement. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is Grasim Industries Limited with 57% of shares outstanding. This implies that they have majority interest control of the future of the company. With 4.7% and 1.6% of the shares outstanding respectively, Life Insurance Corporation of India, Asset Management Arm and SBI Funds Management Limited are the second and third largest shareholders.

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. Quite a few analysts cover the stock, so you could look into forecast growth quite easily.

Insider Ownership Of UltraTech Cement

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.

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 data suggests that insiders own under 1% of UltraTech Cement Limited in their own names. As it is a large company, we'd only expect insiders to own a small percentage of it. But it's worth noting that they own ₹2.1b worth of shares. It is always good to see at least some insider ownership, but it might be worth checking if those insiders have been selling.

General Public Ownership

With a 16% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over UltraTech Cement. 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.

Public Company Ownership

It appears to us that public companies own 59% of UltraTech Cement. It's hard to say for sure but this suggests they have entwined business interests. This might be a strategic stake, so it's worth watching this space for changes in ownership.

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.

I like to dive deeper into how a company has performed in the past. You can find historic revenue and earnings in this detailed graph.

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.