Oriental Land Co., Ltd.'s (TSE:4661) largest shareholders are individual investors with 46% ownership, public companies own 27%

Key Insights

• The considerable ownership by individual investors in Oriental Land indicates that they collectively have a greater say in management and business strategy
• 50% of the business is held by the top 14 shareholders
• Institutional ownership in Oriental Land is 23%

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If you want to know who really controls Oriental Land Co., Ltd. (TSE:4661), 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 individual investors with 46% ownership. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

And public companies on the other hand have a 27% ownership in the company.

Let's take a closer look to see what the different types of shareholders can tell us about Oriental Land.

See our latest analysis for Oriental Land

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Oriental Land?

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.

Oriental Land already has institutions on the share registry. Indeed, they own a respectable stake in the company. 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 Oriental Land, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in Oriental Land. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is Keisei Electric Railway Co., Ltd. with 21% of shares outstanding. Mitsui Fudosan Co., Ltd. is the second largest shareholder owning 6.0% of common stock, and Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Asset Management Co., Ltd. holds about 4.2% of the company stock.

A closer look at our ownership figures suggests that the top 14 shareholders have a combined ownership of 50% implying that no single shareholder has a majority.

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. Quite a few analysts cover the stock, so you could look into forecast growth quite easily.

Insider Ownership Of Oriental Land

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 data suggests that insiders own under 1% of Oriental Land Co., Ltd. in their own names. Being so large, we would not expect insiders to own a large proportion of the stock. Collectively, they own JP¥5.4b of stock. In this sort of situation, it can be more interesting to see if those insiders have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

With a 46% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Oriental Land. 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 27% of Oriental Land. It's hard to say for sure but this suggests they have entwined business interests. This might be a strategic stake, so it's worth watching this space for changes in ownership.

Next Steps:

While it is well worth considering the different groups that own a company, there are other factors that are even more important.

I always like to check for a history of revenue growth. You can too, by accessing this free chart of historic revenue and earnings in this detailed graph.

Ultimately the future is most important. You can access this free report on analyst forecasts for the company.

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.