KSP Co., Ltd.'s (KOSDAQ:073010) largest shareholders are public companies who were rewarded as market cap surged ₩20b last week

Key Insights

• The considerable ownership by public companies in KSP indicates that they collectively have a greater say in management and business strategy
• Kumkang Kind Co., Ltd. owns 55% of the company
• Ownership research, combined with past performance data can help provide a good understanding of opportunities in a stock

If you want to know who really controls KSP Co., Ltd. (KOSDAQ:073010), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are public companies with 56% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

As a result, public companies collectively scored the highest last week as the company hit ₩171b market cap following a 13% gain in the stock.

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

Check out our latest analysis for KSP

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About KSP?

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.

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

Hedge funds don't have many shares in KSP. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is Kumkang Kind Co., Ltd. with 55% of shares outstanding. This essentially means that they have extensive influence, if not outright control, over the future of the corporation. KB Asset Management Co., Ltd. is the second largest shareholder owning 7.3% of common stock, and Kofc Value-Up Private Equity Fund Co., Ltd holds about 7.0% of the company stock.

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. Our information suggests that there isn't any analyst coverage of the stock, so it is probably little known.

Insider Ownership Of KSP

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.

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 some shares in KSP Co., Ltd.. In their own names, insiders own ₩4.3b worth of stock in the ₩171b company. This shows at least some alignment, but we usually like to see larger insider holdings. 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 27% stake in KSP. While this size of ownership may not be enough to sway a policy decision in their favour, they can still make a collective impact on company policies.

Private Company Ownership

Our data indicates that Private Companies hold 7.0%, of the company's shares. It might be worth looking deeper into this. If related parties, such as insiders, have an interest in one of these private companies, that should be disclosed in the annual report. Private companies may also have a strategic interest in the company.

Public Company Ownership

It appears to us that public companies own 56% of KSP. 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. Be aware that KSP is showing 3 warning signs in our investment analysis , and 1 of those doesn't sit too well with us...

Of course, you might find a fantastic investment by looking elsewhere. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies.

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.