YASKAWA Electric Corporation (TSE:6506) institutional owners may be pleased with recent gains after 15% loss over the past year

Key Insights

• Institutions' substantial holdings in YASKAWA Electric implies that they have significant influence over the company's share price
• A total of 12 investors have a majority stake in the company with 52% ownership
• Using data from analyst forecasts alongside ownership research, one can better assess the future performance of a company

A look at the shareholders of YASKAWA Electric Corporation (TSE:6506) can tell us which group is most powerful. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are institutions with 77% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

After a year of 15% losses, last week’s 3.4% gain would be welcomed by institutional investors as a possible sign that returns might start trending higher.

In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of YASKAWA Electric.

See our latest analysis for YASKAWA Electric

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About YASKAWA Electric?

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 YASKAWA Electric 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 YASKAWA Electric's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

Since institutional investors own more than half the issued stock, the board will likely have to pay attention to their preferences. YASKAWA Electric is not owned by hedge funds. Our data shows that BlackRock, Inc. is the largest shareholder with 7.0% of shares outstanding. With 6.8% and 6.3% of the shares outstanding respectively, Nomura Asset Management Co., Ltd. and Asset Management One Co., Ltd. are the second and third largest shareholders.

A closer look at our ownership figures suggests that the top 12 shareholders have a combined ownership of 52% implying that no single shareholder has a majority.

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. There are plenty of analysts covering the stock, so it might be worth seeing what they are forecasting, too.

Insider Ownership Of YASKAWA Electric

The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. Company management run the business, but the CEO will answer to the board, even if he or she is a member of it.

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 less than 1% of YASKAWA Electric Corporation. Being so large, we would not expect insiders to own a large proportion of the stock. Collectively, they own JP¥757m of stock. It is good to see board members owning shares, but it might be worth checking if those insiders have been buying.

General Public Ownership

With a 23% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over YASKAWA Electric. 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:

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.

I like to dive deeper into how a company has performed in the past. You can access this interactive graph of past earnings, revenue and cash flow, for free.

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.