While institutions own 40% of Sumitomo Forestry Co., Ltd. (TSE:1911), retail investors are its largest shareholders with 49% ownership

Key Insights

• The considerable ownership by retail investors in Sumitomo Forestry indicates that they collectively have a greater say in management and business strategy
• 46% of the business is held by the top 25 shareholders
• 40% of Sumitomo Forestry is held by Institutions

If you want to know who really controls Sumitomo Forestry Co., Ltd. (TSE:1911), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are retail investors with 49% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

Meanwhile, institutions make up 40% of the company’s shareholders. Institutions often own shares in more established companies, while it's not unusual to see insiders own a fair bit of smaller companies.

In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of Sumitomo Forestry.

View our latest analysis for Sumitomo Forestry

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Sumitomo Forestry?

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 Sumitomo Forestry 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 Sumitomo Forestry's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

Sumitomo Forestry is not owned by hedge funds. The company's largest shareholder is Sumitomo Metal Mining Co., Ltd., with ownership of 4.9%. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Asset Management Co., Ltd. is the second largest shareholder owning 3.3% of common stock, and Nomura Asset Management Co., Ltd. holds about 3.0% of the company stock.

On studying our ownership data, we found that 25 of the top shareholders collectively own less than 50% of the share register, implying that no single individual has a majority interest.

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

Insider Ownership Of Sumitomo Forestry

While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. 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.

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 less than 1% of Sumitomo Forestry Co., Ltd.. It is a pretty big company, so it would be possible for board members to own a meaningful interest in the company, without owning much of a proportional interest. In this case, they own around JP¥755m worth of shares (at current prices). Arguably, recent buying and selling is just as important to consider. You can click here to see if insiders have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public-- including retail investors -- own 49% stake in the company, and hence can't easily be ignored. While this group can't necessarily call the shots, it can certainly have a real influence on how the company is run.

Public Company Ownership

Public companies currently own 9.6% of Sumitomo Forestry stock. We can't be certain but it is quite possible this is a strategic stake. The businesses may be similar, or work together.

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. To that end, you should learn about the 2 warning signs we've spotted with Sumitomo Forestry (including 1 which can't be ignored) .

If you would prefer discover what analysts are predicting in terms of future growth, do not miss this free report on analyst forecasts.

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.