Retail investors in Mitani Sangyo Co., Ltd. (TSE:8285) are its biggest bettors, and their bets paid off as stock gained 13% last week

Simply Wall St · 04/15 05:49

Key Insights

  • Mitani Sangyo's significant retail investors ownership suggests that the key decisions are influenced by shareholders from the larger public
  • The top 8 shareholders own 51% of the company
  • 17% of Mitani Sangyo is held by insiders
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To get a sense of who is truly in control of Mitani Sangyo Co., Ltd. (TSE:8285), it is important to understand the ownership structure of the business. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are retail investors with 43% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

As a result, retail investors collectively scored the highest last week as the company hit JP¥20b market cap following a 13% gain in the stock.

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

Check out our latest analysis for Mitani Sangyo

ownership-breakdown
TSE:8285 Ownership Breakdown April 15th 2025

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Mitani Sangyo?

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 Mitani Sangyo does have institutional investors; and they hold a good portion of the company's stock. 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. 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 Mitani Sangyo, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

earnings-and-revenue-growth
TSE:8285 Earnings and Revenue Growth April 15th 2025

We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in Mitani Sangyo. Mitsuru Mitani is currently the company's largest shareholder with 16% of shares outstanding. In comparison, the second and third largest shareholders hold about 9.7% and 7.6% of the stock. Additionally, the company's CEO Tadateru Mitani directly holds 0.9% of the total shares outstanding.

We did some more digging and found that 8 of the top shareholders account for roughly 51% of the register, implying that along with larger shareholders, there are a few smaller shareholders, thereby balancing out each others interests somewhat.

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. As far as we can tell there isn't analyst coverage of the company, so it is probably flying under the radar.

Insider Ownership Of Mitani Sangyo

The definition of company insiders can be subjective and does vary between jurisdictions. Our data reflects individual insiders, capturing board members at the very least. Company management run the business, but the CEO will answer to the board, even if he or she is a member of it.

I generally consider insider ownership to be a good thing. However, on some occasions it makes it more difficult for other shareholders to hold the board accountable for decisions.

It seems insiders own a significant proportion of Mitani Sangyo Co., Ltd.. It has a market capitalization of just JP¥20b, and insiders have JP¥3.4b worth of shares in their own names. We would say this shows alignment with shareholders, but it is worth noting that the company is still quite small; some insiders may have founded the business. You can click here to see if those insiders have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a 43% stake in Mitani Sangyo. While this group can't necessarily call the shots, it can certainly have a real influence on how the company is run.

Private Company Ownership

We can see that Private Companies own 4.5%, of the shares on issue. Private companies may be related parties. Sometimes insiders have an interest in a public company through a holding in a private company, rather than in their own capacity as an individual. While it's hard to draw any broad stroke conclusions, it is worth noting as an area for further research.

Public Company Ownership

It appears to us that public companies own 9.7% of Mitani Sangyo. This may be a strategic interest and the two companies may have related business interests. It could be that they have de-merged. This holding is probably worth investigating further.

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. Take risks for example - Mitani Sangyo has 2 warning signs we think you should be aware of.

If you would prefer check out another company -- one with potentially superior financials -- then do not miss this free list of interesting companies, backed by strong financial data.

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.