Retail investors among SOFT99corporation's (TSE:4464) largest shareholders, saw gain in holdings value after stock jumped 10% last week

Key Insights

• The considerable ownership by retail investors in SOFT99corporation indicates that they collectively have a greater say in management and business strategy
• The top 8 shareholders own 51% of the company
• 14% of SOFT99corporation is held by insiders

A look at the shareholders of SOFT99corporation (TSE:4464) can tell us which group is most powerful. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are retail investors with 43% ownership. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

Clearly, retail investors benefitted the most after the company's market cap rose by JP¥3.2b last week.

Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of SOFT99corporation, beginning with the chart below.

See our latest analysis for SOFT99corporation

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About SOFT99corporation?

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.

We can see that SOFT99corporation 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. 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 SOFT99corporation, (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 SOFT99corporation. Sun Trade Co.,Ltd. is currently the largest shareholder, with 15% of shares outstanding. Simplex Asset Management Co., Ltd. is the second largest shareholder owning 13% of common stock, and Mikiko Suzuki holds about 6.9% of the company stock. In addition, we found that Hideaki Tanaka, the CEO has 3.1% of the shares allocated to their name.

We did some more digging and found that 8 of the top shareholders account for roughly 51% of the register, implying that along with larger shareholders, there are a few smaller shareholders, thereby balancing out each others interests somewhat.

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. 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 SOFT99corporation

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.

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 information suggests that insiders maintain a significant holding in SOFT99corporation. Insiders own JP¥4.8b worth of shares in the JP¥34b 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

With a 43% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over SOFT99corporation. 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.

Private Company Ownership

We can see that Private Companies own 19%, of the shares on issue. 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 SOFT99corporation better, we need to consider many other factors.

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.

Of course, you might find a fantastic investment by looking elsewhere. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies.

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.