WPU - Waste Plastic Upcycling A/S (OB:WPU) insiders, who hold 63% of the firm would be disappointed by the recent pullback

Key Insights

• Significant insider control over WPU - Waste Plastic Upcycling implies vested interests in company growth
• A total of 3 investors have a majority stake in the company with 68% ownership
• Using data from company's past performance alongside ownership research, one can better assess the future performance of a company

To get a sense of who is truly in control of WPU - Waste Plastic Upcycling A/S (OB:WPU), it is important to understand the ownership structure of the business. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are individual insiders with 63% ownership. That is, the group stands to benefit the most if the stock rises (or lose the most if there is a downturn).

As market cap fell to kr1.1b last week, insiders would have faced the highest losses than any other shareholder groups of the company.

In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of WPU - Waste Plastic Upcycling.

Check out our latest analysis for WPU - Waste Plastic Upcycling

What Does The Lack Of Institutional Ownership Tell Us About WPU - Waste Plastic Upcycling?

We don't tend to see institutional investors holding stock of companies that are very risky, thinly traded, or very small. Though we do sometimes see large companies without institutions on the register, it's not particularly common.

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. WPU - Waste Plastic Upcycling'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.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in WPU - Waste Plastic Upcycling. Vitol B.V. is currently the company's largest shareholder with 24% of shares outstanding. In comparison, the second and third largest shareholders hold about 22% and 21% of the stock. Additionally, the company's CEO Niels Bagge directly holds 1.0% of the total shares outstanding.

After doing some more digging, we found that the top 3 shareholders collectively control more than half of the company's shares, implying that they have considerable power to influence the company's decisions.

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. We're not picking up on any analyst coverage of the stock at the moment, so the company is unlikely to be widely held.

Insider Ownership Of WPU - Waste Plastic Upcycling

The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. 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 most recent data indicates that insiders own the majority of WPU - Waste Plastic Upcycling A/S. This means they can collectively make decisions for the company. That means they own kr671m worth of shares in the kr1.1b company. That's quite meaningful. Most would argue this is a positive, showing strong alignment with shareholders. You can click here to see if those insiders have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public-- including retail investors -- own 13% stake in the company, and hence can't easily be ignored. 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.

Private Company Ownership

Our data indicates that Private Companies hold 24%, of the company's shares. 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:

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. For instance, we've identified 2 warning signs for WPU - Waste Plastic Upcycling (1 is significant) that you should be aware of.

If you would prefer check out another company -- one with potentially superior financials -- then do not miss this free list of interesting companies, backed by strong financial data.

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.