retail investors who own 50% along with institutions invested in L&F Co., Ltd. (KRX:066970) saw increase in their holdings value last week

Key Insights

• The considerable ownership by retail investors in L&F indicates that they collectively have a greater say in management and business strategy
• 48% of the business is held by the top 25 shareholders
• Institutions own 24% of L&F

If you want to know who really controls L&F Co., Ltd. (KRX:066970), 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 retail investors with 50% ownership. That is, the group stands to benefit the most if the stock rises (or lose the most if there is a downturn).

While retail investors were the group that benefitted the most from last week’s ₩366b market cap gain, institutions too had a 24% share in those profits.

Let's take a closer look to see what the different types of shareholders can tell us about L&F.

Check out our latest analysis for L&F

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About L&F?

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.

L&F 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 L&F's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in L&F. The company's largest shareholder is Seronics Co., Ltd., with ownership of 15%. For context, the second largest shareholder holds about 6.6% of the shares outstanding, followed by an ownership of 3.6% by the third-largest shareholder.

On studying our ownership data, we found that 25 of the top shareholders collectively own less than 50% of the share register, implying that no single individual has a majority interest.

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. 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 L&F

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. 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.

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.

Shareholders would probably be interested to learn that insiders own shares in L&F Co., Ltd.. It is a pretty big company, so it is generally a positive to see some potentially meaningful alignment. In this case, they own around ₩149b worth of shares (at current prices). Most would say this shows alignment of interests between shareholders and the board. Still, it might be worth checking if those insiders have been selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, collectively holds 50% of L&F shares. This size of ownership gives investors from the general public some collective power. They can and probably do influence decisions on executive compensation, dividend policies and proposed business acquisitions.

Private Company Ownership

Our data indicates that Private Companies hold 5.4%, of the company's shares. It's hard to draw any conclusions from this fact alone, so its worth looking into who owns those private companies. Sometimes insiders or other related parties have an interest in shares in a public company through a separate private company.

Public Company Ownership

We can see that public companies hold 15% of the L&F shares on issue. 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:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand L&F better, we need to consider many other factors.

I like to dive deeper into how a company has performed in the past. You can find historic revenue and earnings in this detailed graph.

But ultimately it is the future, not the past, that will determine how well the owners of this business will do. Therefore we think it advisable to take a look at this free report showing whether analysts are predicting a brighter future.

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.