retail investors who own 40% along with institutions invested in Keyence Corporation (TSE:6861) saw increase in their holdings value last week

Key Insights

• Keyence'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
• Insider ownership in Keyence is 18%

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To get a sense of who is truly in control of Keyence Corporation (TSE:6861), 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 40% ownership. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

Following a 10.0% increase in the stock price last week, retail investors profited the most, but institutions who own 37% stock also stood to gain from the increase.

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

View our latest analysis for Keyence

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Keyence?

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.

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

Hedge funds don't have many shares in Keyence. Our data shows that Takemitsu Takizaki is the largest shareholder with 18% of shares outstanding. Meanwhile, the second and third largest shareholders, hold 5.1% and 4.6%, of the shares outstanding, respectively.

On studying our ownership data, we found that 25 of the top shareholders collectively own less than 50% of the share register, implying that no single individual has a majority interest.

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. Quite a few analysts cover the stock, so you could look into forecast growth quite easily.

Insider Ownership Of Keyence

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 most recent data indicates that insiders own a reasonable proportion of Keyence Corporation. Insiders own JP¥2.5t worth of shares in the JP¥14t company. That's quite meaningful. Most would say this shows a good degree of alignment with shareholders, especially in a company of this size. You can click here to see if those insiders have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public-- including retail investors -- own 40% stake in the company, and hence can't easily be ignored. 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:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Keyence better, we need to consider many other factors.

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.

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.