Japan Tobacco Inc.'s (TSE:2914) largest shareholders are individual investors with 42% ownership, state or government own 38%

Key Insights

• The considerable ownership by individual investors in Japan Tobacco indicates that they collectively have a greater say in management and business strategy
• A total of 8 investors have a majority stake in the company with 51% ownership
• Institutions own 20% of Japan Tobacco

If you want to know who really controls Japan Tobacco Inc. (TSE:2914), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. We can see that individual investors own the lion's share in the company with 42% ownership. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

And state or government on the other hand have a 38% ownership in the company.

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

View our latest analysis for Japan Tobacco

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Japan Tobacco?

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 Japan Tobacco. 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 Japan Tobacco, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in Japan Tobacco. The company's largest shareholder is Ministry of Finance Japan, with ownership of 38%. For context, the second largest shareholder holds about 3.0% of the shares outstanding, followed by an ownership of 2.5% by the third-largest shareholder.

We also observed that the top 8 shareholders account for more than half of the share register, with a few smaller shareholders to balance the interests of the larger ones to a certain extent.

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 are a reasonable number of analysts covering the stock, so it might be useful to find out their aggregate view on the future.

Insider Ownership Of Japan Tobacco

The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. 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 information suggests that Japan Tobacco Inc. insiders own under 1% of the company. It is a very large company, so it would be surprising to see insiders own a large proportion of the company. Though their holding amounts to less than 1%, we can see that board members collectively own JP¥1.5b worth of shares (at current prices). It is always good to see at least some insider ownership, but it might be worth checking if those insiders have been selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a 42% stake in Japan Tobacco. While this size of ownership may not be enough to sway a policy decision in their favour, they can still make a collective impact on company policies.

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. For example, we've discovered 1 warning sign for Japan Tobacco that you should be aware of before investing here.

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.