Fast Retailing Co., Ltd. (TSE:9983) insiders have significant skin in the game with 42% ownership

Key Insights

• Significant insider control over Fast Retailing implies vested interests in company growth
• A total of 4 investors have a majority stake in the company with 51% ownership
• Institutions own 39% of Fast Retailing

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If you want to know who really controls Fast Retailing Co., Ltd. (TSE:9983), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. With 42% stake, individual insiders possess the maximum shares in the company. That is, the group stands to benefit the most if the stock rises (or lose the most if there is a downturn).

So it follows, every decision made by insiders of Fast Retailing regarding the company's future would be crucial to them.

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

View our latest analysis for Fast Retailing

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Fast Retailing?

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.

Fast Retailing 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. 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 Fast Retailing's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in Fast Retailing. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is the CEO Tadashi Yanai with 25% of shares outstanding. For context, the second largest shareholder holds about 9.3% of the shares outstanding, followed by an ownership of 8.7% by the third-largest shareholder. Interestingly, the second-largest shareholder, Kazumi Yanai is also Senior Key Executive, again, pointing towards strong insider ownership amongst the company's top shareholders.

To make our study more interesting, we found that the top 4 shareholders control more than half of the company which implies that this group has considerable sway over the company's decision-making.

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 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 Fast Retailing

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.

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.

It seems insiders own a significant proportion of Fast Retailing Co., Ltd.. It has a market capitalization of just JP¥14t, and insiders have JP¥6.1t worth of shares in their own names. That's quite significant. Most would be pleased to see the board is investing alongside them. You may wish to access this free chart showing recent trading by insiders.

General Public Ownership

The general public-- including retail investors -- own 19% 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.

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.

I like to dive deeper into how a company has performed in the past. You can access this interactive graph of past earnings, revenue and cash flow, for free.

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.