Tosoh Corporation's (TSE:4042) high institutional ownership speaks for itself as stock continues to impress, up 4.1% over last week

Key Insights

• Significantly high institutional ownership implies Tosoh's stock price is sensitive to their trading actions
• 48% of the business is held by the top 25 shareholders
• Analyst forecasts along with ownership data serve to give a strong idea about prospects for a business

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Every investor in Tosoh Corporation (TSE:4042) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are institutions with 49% ownership. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

Last week’s 4.1% gain means that institutional investors were on the positive end of the spectrum even as the company has shown strong longer-term trends. The gains from last week would have further boosted the one-year return to shareholders which currently stand at 20%.

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

Check out our latest analysis for Tosoh

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Tosoh?

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 Tosoh. This can indicate that the company has a certain degree of credibility in the investment community. However, it is best to be wary of relying on the supposed validation that comes with institutional investors. They too, get it wrong sometimes. 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 Tosoh's historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.

Tosoh is not owned by hedge funds. Nomura Asset Management Co., Ltd. is currently the largest shareholder, with 5.7% of shares outstanding. With 4.6% and 4.5% of the shares outstanding respectively, Silchester International Investors LLP and Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Asset Management Co., Ltd. are the second and third largest shareholders.

A deeper look at our ownership data shows that the top 25 shareholders collectively hold less than half of the register, suggesting a large group of small holders where no single shareholder has a majority.

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 Tosoh

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.

Our information suggests that Tosoh Corporation insiders own under 1% of the company. But they may have an indirect interest through a corporate structure that we haven't picked up on. It's a big company, so even a small proportional interest can create alignment between the board and shareholders. In this case insiders own JP¥394m worth of shares. Arguably, recent buying and selling is just as important to consider. You can click here to see if insiders have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

With a 49% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Tosoh. 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:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Tosoh better, we need to consider many other factors. For instance, we've identified 1 warning sign for Tosoh 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.