No - in my case, Computershare is the transfer agent, not a nominee. Computershare is contracted by IBM to actually administer and maintain IBM's share register, in which Cede & Co is listed as the legal owner of a huge chunk of shares, and I'm directly registered as the legal owner of a couple of thousand dollars of shares. Google "direct registration".
I didn't buy my IBM shares through a broker/DTC participant/any other financial institution. In my case, IBM issued the shares directly to me, instructing Computershare to update the share register accordingly.
Street side shares are owned by Cede, but as you mention other non street side shares are directly owned. This includes direct share grants, employee stock purchase plans and dividend reinvestment plans.
(As an Australian, the idea that stock certificates are still something that exists at all for publicly-listed companies absolutely astounds me, but anyway...)
"Example. John Investor purchased 1,000 sharhs of IBM common stock through Meril Lynch, his broker (a DTC participant). John Investor's shares are a small fraction of the total shares deposited in Merrill Lynch's participant account (i.e,,, 10 million), which in turn are a small fraction of the total number of IBM shares represented by certificates held in DTC's vaults live., 100 million). (DTC's entire position (100 million) is represented on IBM's share register under the name "Cede & Co."') After John Investor gave his broker the instruction to purchase the shares, his broker obtained them in the market from one or more sellers, each of which ultimately had its own DTC participant account. To effectuate the trade, DTC reduced the selling participants' accounts by an aggregate of 1,000 and increased Merril Lynchs account by 1,000.
It is important to understand that DTC legally owned those shares both before and after the transaction-it merely shifted them from one account to another."
See: https://www.sec.gov/comments/4-537/4537-25.pdf
But I'll concede the point as Computershare is the actual owner not DTC/Cede, but replace DTC/Cede with Computershare, the ownership principal is the same, Computershare is the legal owner of IMB shares at all times (before and after you buy the stock) you would only become a beneficial owner at any given point.