Dohwa Engineering Co., Ltd.'s (KRX:002150) market cap increased by ₩21b, insiders receive a 72% cut

Key Insights

• Significant insider control over Dohwa Engineering implies vested interests in company growth
• A total of 3 investors have a majority stake in the company with 53% ownership
• 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 Dohwa Engineering Co., Ltd. (KRX:002150), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 72% to be precise, is individual insiders. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

As a result, insiders scored the highest last week as the company hit ₩229b market cap following a 10% gain in the stock.

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

View our latest analysis for Dohwa Engineering

What Does The Lack Of Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Dohwa Engineering?

Small companies that are not very actively traded often lack institutional investors, but it's less common to see large companies without them.

There are many reasons why a company might not have any institutions on the share registry. It may be hard for institutions to buy large amounts of shares, if liquidity (the amount of shares traded each day) is low. If the company has not needed to raise capital, institutions might lack the opportunity to build a position. It is also possible that fund managers don't own the stock because they aren't convinced it will perform well. Dohwa Engineering's earnings and revenue track record (below) may not be compelling to institutional investors -- or they simply might not have looked at the business closely.

We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in Dohwa Engineering. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is Yeong-Pil Kwak with 25% of shares outstanding. For context, the second largest shareholder holds about 17% of the shares outstanding, followed by an ownership of 11% by the third-largest shareholder. Jun-Sang Kwak, who is the second-largest shareholder, also happens to hold the title of Co-Chief Executive Officer.

A more detailed study of the shareholder registry showed us that 3 of the top shareholders have a considerable amount of ownership in the company, via their 53% stake.

While it makes sense to study institutional ownership data for a company, it also makes sense to study analyst sentiments to know which way the wind is blowing. Our information suggests that there isn't any analyst coverage of the stock, so it is probably little known.

Insider Ownership Of Dohwa Engineering

While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. The company management answer to the board and the latter should represent the interests of shareholders. Notably, sometimes top-level managers are on the board themselves.

Most consider insider ownership a positive because it can indicate the board is well aligned with other shareholders. However, on some occasions too much power is concentrated within this group.

It seems that insiders own more than half the Dohwa Engineering Co., Ltd. stock. This gives them a lot of power. So they have a ₩164b stake in this ₩229b business. Most would be pleased to see the board is investing alongside them. You may wish todiscover (for free) if they have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public-- including retail investors -- own 26% stake in the company, and hence can't easily be ignored. While this group can't necessarily call the shots, it can certainly have a real influence on how the company is run.

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. For instance, we've identified 1 warning sign for Dohwa Engineering that 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.

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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.