retail investors who own 36% along with institutions invested in Oriental Shiraishi Corporation (TSE:1786) saw increase in their holdings value last week

Key Insights

• The considerable ownership by retail investors in Oriental Shiraishi indicates that they collectively have a greater say in management and business strategy
• 52% of the business is held by the top 9 shareholders
• Institutional ownership in Oriental Shiraishi is 33%

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Every investor in Oriental Shiraishi Corporation (TSE:1786) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. With 36% stake, retail investors 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.

Retail investors gained the most after market cap touched JP¥49b last week, while institutions who own 33% also benefitted.

In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of Oriental Shiraishi.

View our latest analysis for Oriental Shiraishi

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Oriental Shiraishi?

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 Oriental Shiraishi does have institutional investors; and they hold a good portion of the company's stock. This suggests some credibility amongst professional investors. But we can't rely on that fact alone since institutions make bad investments sometimes, just like everyone does. When multiple institutions own a stock, there's always a risk that they are in a 'crowded trade'. When such a trade goes wrong, multiple parties may compete to sell stock fast. This risk is higher in a company without a history of growth. You can see Oriental Shiraishi's historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.

Our data indicates that hedge funds own 10% of Oriental Shiraishi. That worth noting, since hedge funds are often quite active investors, who may try to influence management. Many want to see value creation (and a higher share price) in the short term or medium term. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is ITOCHU Corporation with 17% of shares outstanding. Meanwhile, the second and third largest shareholders, hold 10% and 5.3%, of the shares outstanding, respectively.

We also observed that the top 9 shareholders account for more than half of the share register, with a few smaller shareholders to balance the interests of the larger ones to a certain extent.

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. There is a little analyst coverage of the stock, but not much. So there is room for it to gain more coverage.

Insider Ownership Of Oriental Shiraishi

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.

I generally consider insider ownership to be a good thing. However, on some occasions it makes it more difficult for other shareholders to hold the board accountable for decisions.

Our most recent data indicates that insiders own some shares in Oriental Shiraishi Corporation. As individuals, the insiders collectively own JP¥1.3b worth of the JP¥49b company. Some would say this shows alignment of interests between shareholders and the board. But it might be worth checking if those insiders have been selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public-- including retail investors -- own 36% stake in the company, and hence can't easily be ignored. 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.

Public Company Ownership

It appears to us that public companies own 17% of Oriental Shiraishi. This may be a strategic interest and the two companies may have related business interests. It could be that they have de-merged. This holding is probably worth investigating further.

Next Steps:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Oriental Shiraishi better, we need to consider many other factors. For instance, we've identified 1 warning sign for Oriental Shiraishi that you should be aware of.

But ultimately it is the future, not the past, that will determine how well the owners of this business will do. Therefore we think it advisable to take a look at this free report showing whether analysts are predicting a brighter future.

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.