Following recent decline, Optiemus Infracom Limited's (NSE:OPTIEMUS) top shareholder CEO Ashok Gupta sees holdings value drop by 12%

Key Insights

• Insiders appear to have a vested interest in Optiemus Infracom's growth, as seen by their sizeable ownership
• The largest shareholder of the company is Ashok Gupta with a 57% stake
• Past performance of a company along with ownership data serve to give a strong idea about prospects for a business

To get a sense of who is truly in control of Optiemus Infracom Limited (NSE:OPTIEMUS), it is important to understand the ownership structure of the business. We can see that individual insiders own the lion's share in the company with 75% ownership. That is, the group stands to benefit the most if the stock rises (or lose the most if there is a downturn).

As a result, insiders as a group endured the highest losses after market cap fell by ₹4.4b.

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

View our latest analysis for Optiemus Infracom

What Does The Lack Of Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Optiemus Infracom?

Small companies that are not very actively traded often lack institutional investors, but it's less common to see large companies without them.

There are many reasons why a company might not have any institutions on the share registry. It may be hard for institutions to buy large amounts of shares, if liquidity (the amount of shares traded each day) is low. If the company has not needed to raise capital, institutions might lack the opportunity to build a position. It is also possible that fund managers don't own the stock because they aren't convinced it will perform well. Optiemus Infracom's earnings and revenue track record (below) may not be compelling to institutional investors -- or they simply might not have looked at the business closely.

Optiemus Infracom is not owned by hedge funds. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is the CEO Ashok Gupta with 57% of shares outstanding. With such a huge stake, we infer that they have significant control of the future of the company. It's usually considered a good sign when insiders own a significant number of shares in the company, and in this case, we're glad to see a company insider with such skin in the game. Meanwhile, the second and third largest shareholders, hold 8.0% and 6.0%, of the shares outstanding, respectively. Interestingly, the third-largest shareholder, Neetesh Gupta is also a Member of the Board of Directors, again, indicating strong insider ownership amongst the company's top shareholders.

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. Our information suggests that there isn't any analyst coverage of the stock, so it is probably little known.

Insider Ownership Of Optiemus Infracom

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. Company management run the business, but the CEO will answer to the board, even if he or she is a member of it.

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 that insiders own more than half the Optiemus Infracom Limited stock. This gives them a lot of power. So they have a ₹25b stake in this ₹34b business. Most would be pleased to see the board is investing alongside them. You may wish todiscover (for free) if they have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

With a 22% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Optiemus Infracom. This size of ownership, while considerable, may not be enough to change company policy if the decision is not in sync with other large shareholders.

Next Steps:

While it is well worth considering the different groups that own a company, there are other factors that are even more important.

Many find it useful to take an in depth look at how a company has performed in the past. You can access this detailed graph of past earnings, revenue and cash flow.

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.