While institutions invested in SCREEN Holdings Co., Ltd. (TSE:7735) benefited from last week's 14% gain, retail investors stood to gain the most

Key Insights

• Significant control over SCREEN Holdings by retail investors implies that the general public has more power to influence management and governance-related decisions
• The top 25 shareholders own 48% of the company
• Institutions own 49% of SCREEN Holdings

If you want to know who really controls SCREEN Holdings Co., Ltd. (TSE:7735), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. With 49% stake, retail investors possess the maximum shares in the company. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

Retail investors gained the most after market cap touched JP¥1.1t last week, while institutions who own 49% also benefitted.

In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of SCREEN Holdings.

See our latest analysis for SCREEN Holdings

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About SCREEN Holdings?

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.

We can see that SCREEN Holdings does have institutional investors; and they hold a good portion of the company's stock. This suggests some credibility amongst professional investors. But we can't rely on that fact alone since institutions make bad investments sometimes, just like everyone does. 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 SCREEN Holdings, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

SCREEN Holdings is not owned by hedge funds. Nomura Asset Management Co., Ltd. is currently the company's largest shareholder with 6.3% of shares outstanding. With 5.7% and 3.8% of the shares outstanding respectively, BlackRock, Inc. and Nissay Asset Management Corporation are the second and third largest shareholders.

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.

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. There are plenty of analysts covering the stock, so it might be worth seeing what they are forecasting, too.

Insider Ownership Of SCREEN Holdings

While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. The company management answer to the board and the latter should represent the interests of shareholders. Notably, sometimes top-level managers are on the board themselves.

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 information suggests that SCREEN Holdings Co., Ltd. insiders own under 1% of the company. It is a pretty big company, so it would be possible for board members to own a meaningful interest in the company, without owning much of a proportional interest. In this case, they own around JP¥1.2b worth of shares (at current prices). It is good to see board members owning shares, but it might be worth checking if those insiders have been buying.

General Public Ownership

With a 49% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over SCREEN Holdings. While this group can't necessarily call the shots, it can certainly have a real influence on how the company is run.

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 instance, we've identified 4 warning signs for SCREEN Holdings (1 is a bit unpleasant) that you should be aware of.

But ultimately it is the future, not the past, that will determine how well the owners of this business will do. Therefore we think it advisable to take a look at this free report showing whether analysts are predicting a brighter future.

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.