SK Gas Co., Ltd.'s (KRX:018670) market cap surged ₩189b last week, public companies who have a lot riding on the company were rewarded

Key Insights

• Significant control over SK Gas by public companies implies that the general public has more power to influence management and governance-related decisions
• The largest shareholder of the company is SK Discovery Co., Ltd. with a 74% stake
• Using data from analyst forecasts alongside ownership research, one can better assess the future performance of a company

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If you want to know who really controls SK Gas Co., Ltd. (KRX:018670), 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 74% ownership. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

Clearly, public companies benefitted the most after the company's market cap rose by ₩189b last week.

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

View our latest analysis for SK Gas

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About SK Gas?

Institutions typically measure themselves against a benchmark when reporting to their own investors, so they often become more enthusiastic about a stock once it's included in a major index. We would expect most companies to have some institutions on the register, especially if they are growing.

As you can see, institutional investors have a fair amount of stake in SK Gas. This implies the analysts working for those institutions have looked at the stock and they like it. But just like anyone else, they could be wrong. 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 SK Gas' historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.

SK Gas is not owned by hedge funds. The company's largest shareholder is SK Discovery Co., Ltd., with ownership of 74%. This essentially means that they have extensive influence, if not outright control, over the future of the corporation. With 4.1% and 2.9% of the shares outstanding respectively, National Pension Service and Norges Bank Investment Management are the second and third largest shareholders.

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. Quite a few analysts cover the stock, so you could look into forecast growth quite easily.

Insider Ownership Of SK Gas

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. 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 less than 1% of SK Gas Co., Ltd.. It's a big company, so even a small proportional interest can create alignment between the board and shareholders. In this case insiders own ₩3.0b worth of shares. It is always good to see at least some insider ownership, but it might be worth checking if those insiders have been selling.

General Public Ownership

With a 15% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over SK Gas. 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.

Public Company Ownership

Public companies currently own 74% of SK Gas 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:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand SK Gas better, we need to consider many other factors. For example, we've discovered 1 warning sign for SK Gas that you should be aware of before investing here.

Ultimately the future is most important. You can access this free report on analyst forecasts for the company.

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.