Odakyu Electric Railway Co., Ltd. (TSE:9007) most popular amongst individual investors who own 51% of the shares, institutions hold 48%

Key Insights

• Odakyu Electric Railway's significant individual investors ownership suggests that the key decisions are influenced by shareholders from the larger public
• A total of 25 investors have a majority stake in the company with 48% ownership
• 48% of Odakyu Electric Railway is held by Institutions

A look at the shareholders of Odakyu Electric Railway Co., Ltd. (TSE:9007) can tell us which group is most powerful. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 51% to be precise, is individual investors. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

And institutions on the other hand have a 48% ownership in the company. Insiders often own a large chunk of younger, smaller, companies while huge companies tend to have institutions as shareholders.

Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of Odakyu Electric Railway, beginning with the chart below.

View our latest analysis for Odakyu Electric Railway

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Odakyu Electric Railway?

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.

We can see that Odakyu Electric Railway 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. 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 Odakyu Electric Railway's historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.

Odakyu Electric Railway is not owned by hedge funds. The Dai-Ichi Life Insurance Company, Limited, Asset Management Arm is currently the largest shareholder, with 4.9% of shares outstanding. Nomura Asset Management Co., Ltd. is the second largest shareholder owning 4.6% of common stock, and Nissay Asset Management Corporation holds about 4.5% of the company stock.

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 Odakyu Electric Railway

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 data suggests that insiders own under 1% of Odakyu Electric Railway Co., Ltd. in their own names. 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¥170m 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

The general public -- including retail investors -- own 51% of Odakyu Electric Railway. 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.

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. To that end, you should learn about the 4 warning signs we've spotted with Odakyu Electric Railway (including 2 which are a bit concerning) .

Ultimately the future is most important. You can access this free report on analyst forecasts for the company.

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.