GMO Payment Gateway, Inc.'s (TSE:3769) top owners are public companies with 44% stake, while 30% is held by institutions

Key Insights

• Significant control over GMO Payment Gateway by public companies implies that the general public has more power to influence management and governance-related decisions
• The top 4 shareholders own 51% of the company
• Institutions own 30% of GMO Payment Gateway

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Every investor in GMO Payment Gateway, Inc. (TSE:3769) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 44% to be precise, is public companies. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

Institutions, on the other hand, account for 30% of the company's stockholders. Institutions often own shares in more established companies, while it's not unusual to see insiders own a fair bit of smaller companies.

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

See our latest analysis for GMO Payment Gateway

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About GMO Payment Gateway?

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.

GMO Payment Gateway already has institutions on the share registry. Indeed, they own a respectable stake in the company. 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. If multiple institutions change their view on a stock at the same time, you could see the share price drop fast. It's therefore worth looking at GMO Payment Gateway's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in GMO Payment Gateway. Our data shows that GMO internet group, Inc. is the largest shareholder with 41% of shares outstanding. For context, the second largest shareholder holds about 3.6% of the shares outstanding, followed by an ownership of 3.5% by the third-largest shareholder. Furthermore, CEO Issei Ainoura is the owner of 0.7% of the company's shares.

To make our study more interesting, we found that the top 4 shareholders control more than half of the company which implies that this group has considerable sway over the company's decision-making.

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 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 GMO Payment Gateway

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.

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.

Our most recent data indicates that insiders own less than 1% of GMO Payment Gateway, Inc.. 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¥7.3b worth of shares (at current prices). 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 25% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over GMO Payment Gateway. While this group can't necessarily call the shots, it can certainly have a real influence on how the company is run.

Public Company Ownership

Public companies currently own 44% of GMO Payment Gateway stock. We can't be certain but it is quite possible this is a strategic stake. The businesses may be similar, or work together.

Next Steps:

While it is well worth considering the different groups that own a company, there are other factors that are even more important. For instance, we've identified 1 warning sign for GMO Payment Gateway that you should be aware of.

If you would prefer discover what analysts are predicting in terms of future growth, do not miss this free report on analyst forecasts.

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.