West Coast Paper Mills Limited's (NSE:WSTCSTPAPR) largest shareholders are private companies who were rewarded as market cap surged ₹2.7b last week

Key Insights

• The considerable ownership by private companies in West Coast Paper Mills indicates that they collectively have a greater say in management and business strategy
• The top 7 shareholders own 52% of the company
• Insider ownership in West Coast Paper Mills is 16%

The end of cancer? These 15 emerging AI stocks are developing tech that will allow early identification of life changing diseases like cancer and Alzheimer's.

A look at the shareholders of West Coast Paper Mills Limited (NSE:WSTCSTPAPR) can tell us which group is most powerful. With 44% stake, private companies possess the maximum shares in the company. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

Clearly, private companies benefitted the most after the company's market cap rose by ₹2.7b last week.

Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of West Coast Paper Mills, beginning with the chart below.

Check out our latest analysis for West Coast Paper Mills

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About West Coast Paper Mills?

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.

We can see that West Coast Paper Mills 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 West Coast Paper Mills' earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in West Coast Paper Mills. Veer Enterprises Ltd. is currently the largest shareholder, with 16% of shares outstanding. Shree Satyanarayan Investments Co. Ltd. is the second largest shareholder owning 16% of common stock, and Nippon Life India Asset Management Limited holds about 5.1% of the company stock. Furthermore, CEO Shree Bangur is the owner of 4.4% of the company's shares.

On further inspection, we found that more than half the company's shares are owned by the top 7 shareholders, suggesting that the interests of the larger shareholders are balanced out to an extent by the smaller ones.

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. As far as we can tell there isn't analyst coverage of the company, so it is probably flying under the radar.

Insider Ownership Of West Coast Paper Mills

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. 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.

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 a reasonable proportion of West Coast Paper Mills Limited. Insiders own ₹4.5b worth of shares in the ₹29b company. We would say this shows alignment with shareholders, but it is worth noting that the company is still quite small; some insiders may have founded the business. You can click here to see if those insiders have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public-- including retail investors -- own 28% stake in the company, and hence can't easily be ignored. 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

It seems that Private Companies own 44%, of the West Coast Paper Mills stock. 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.

Next Steps:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand West Coast Paper Mills better, we need to consider many other factors. Be aware that West Coast Paper Mills is showing 2 warning signs in our investment analysis , you should know about...

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.

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.