While institutions own 31% of Fuyo General Lease Co., Ltd. (TSE:8424), retail investors are its largest shareholders with 40% ownership

Key Insights

• Significant control over Fuyo General Lease by retail investors implies that the general public has more power to influence management and governance-related decisions
• The top 12 shareholders own 50% of the company
• 31% of Fuyo General Lease is held by Institutions

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To get a sense of who is truly in control of Fuyo General Lease Co., Ltd. (TSE:8424), it is important to understand the ownership structure of the business. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 40% to be precise, is retail investors. That is, the group stands to benefit the most if the stock rises (or lose the most if there is a downturn).

And institutions on the other hand have a 31% ownership in the company. Large companies usually have institutions as shareholders, and we usually see insiders owning shares in smaller companies.

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

Check out our latest analysis for Fuyo General Lease

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Fuyo General Lease?

Many institutions measure their performance against an index that approximates the local market. So they usually pay more attention to companies that are included in major indices.

Fuyo General Lease 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 Fuyo General Lease, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

Fuyo General Lease is not owned by hedge funds. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is Hulic Co., Ltd. with 14% of shares outstanding. In comparison, the second and third largest shareholders hold about 8.5% and 5.0% of the stock.

Looking at the shareholder registry, we can see that 50% of the ownership is controlled by the top 12 shareholders, meaning that no single shareholder has a majority interest in the ownership.

While it makes sense to study institutional ownership data for a company, it also makes sense to study analyst sentiments to know which way the wind is blowing. 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 Fuyo General Lease

While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. 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 information suggests that Fuyo General Lease Co., Ltd. insiders own under 1% of the company. However, it's possible that insiders might have an indirect interest through a more complex structure. It's a big company, so even a small proportional interest can create alignment between the board and shareholders. In this case insiders own JP¥376m worth of shares. It is good to see board members owning shares, but it might be worth checking if those insiders have been buying.

General Public Ownership

The general public-- including retail investors -- own 40% 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.

Private Company Ownership

Our data indicates that Private Companies hold 8.5%, of the company's shares. It might be worth looking deeper into this. If related parties, such as insiders, have an interest in one of these private companies, that should be disclosed in the annual report. Private companies may also have a strategic interest in the company.

Public Company Ownership

It appears to us that public companies own 20% of Fuyo General Lease. 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:

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. Be aware that Fuyo General Lease is showing 2 warning signs in our investment analysis , you should know about...

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.