While institutions own 23% of Yamazaki Baking Co., Ltd. (TSE:2212), retail investors are its largest shareholders with 51% ownership

Key Insights

• Yamazaki Baking's significant retail investors ownership suggests that the key decisions are influenced by shareholders from the larger public
• 49% of the business is held by the top 25 shareholders
• Institutions own 23% of Yamazaki Baking

To get a sense of who is truly in control of Yamazaki Baking Co., Ltd. (TSE:2212), it is important to understand the ownership structure of the business. We can see that retail investors own the lion's share in the company with 51% ownership. 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 23% ownership in the company. Institutions will often hold stock in bigger companies, and we expect to see insiders owning a noticeable percentage of the smaller ones.

Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of Yamazaki Baking, beginning with the chart below.

View our latest analysis for Yamazaki Baking

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Yamazaki Baking?

Institutional investors commonly compare their own returns to the returns of a commonly followed index. So they generally do consider buying larger companies that are included in the relevant benchmark index.

As you can see, institutional investors have a fair amount of stake in Yamazaki Baking. 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. 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 Yamazaki Baking's historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.

Yamazaki Baking is not owned by hedge funds. Iijima Kousan Co., Ltd is currently the largest shareholder, with 9.4% of shares outstanding. Meanwhile, the second and third largest shareholders, hold 6.3% and 5.6%, of the shares outstanding, respectively. Furthermore, CEO Nobuhiro Iijima is the owner of 1.8% of the company's shares.

Our studies suggest that the top 25 shareholders collectively control less than half of the company's shares, meaning that the company's shares are widely disseminated and there is no dominant shareholder.

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 Yamazaki Baking

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.

Most consider insider ownership a positive because it can indicate the board is well aligned with other shareholders. However, on some occasions too much power is concentrated within this group.

Our most recent data indicates that insiders own some shares in Yamazaki Baking Co., Ltd.. The insiders have a meaningful stake worth JP¥11b. Most would see this as a real positive. If you would like to explore the question of insider alignment, you can click here to see if insiders have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public -- including retail investors -- own 51% of Yamazaki Baking. This level of ownership gives investors from the wider public some power to sway key policy decisions such as board composition, executive compensation, and the dividend payout ratio.

Private Company Ownership

Our data indicates that Private Companies hold 9.4%, of the company's shares. It's hard to draw any conclusions from this fact alone, so its worth looking into who owns those private companies. Sometimes insiders or other related parties have an interest in shares in a public company through a separate private company.

Public Company Ownership

Public companies currently own 15% of Yamazaki Baking 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:

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

I like to dive deeper into how a company has performed in the past. You can find historic revenue and earnings in this detailed graph.

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.