KCC Corporation's (KRX:002380) most bullish insider is CEO Mong-Jin Chung, and their holdings value went up by 6.8% last week

Key Insights

• Significant insider control over KCC implies vested interests in company growth
• A total of 3 investors have a majority stake in the company with 51% ownership
• Institutional ownership in KCC is 25%

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To get a sense of who is truly in control of KCC Corporation (KRX:002380), it is important to understand the ownership structure of the business. We can see that individual insiders own the lion's share in the company with 39% ownership. That is, the group stands to benefit the most if the stock rises (or lose the most if there is a downturn).

As a result, insiders scored the highest last week as the company hit ₩3.1t market cap following a 6.8% gain in the stock.

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

See our latest analysis for KCC

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About KCC?

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.

We can see that KCC 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 KCC'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 KCC. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is the CEO Mong-Jin Chung with 28% of shares outstanding. Meanwhile, the second and third largest shareholders, hold 15% and 7.6%, of the shares outstanding, respectively.

After doing some more digging, we found that the top 3 shareholders collectively control more than half of the company's shares, implying that they have considerable power to influence the company's decisions.

Researching institutional ownership is a good way to gauge and filter a stock's expected performance. The same can be achieved by studying analyst sentiments. There is a little analyst coverage of the stock, but not much. So there is room for it to gain more coverage.

Insider Ownership Of KCC

While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. Company management run the business, but the CEO will answer to the board, even if he or she is a member of it.

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 insiders own a significant proportion of KCC Corporation. Insiders own ₩1.2t worth of shares in the ₩3.1t company. That's quite meaningful. Most would be pleased to see the board is investing alongside them. You may wish to access this free chart showing recent trading by insiders.

General Public Ownership

The general public-- including retail investors -- own 35% stake in the company, and hence can't easily be ignored. This size of ownership, while considerable, may not be enough to change company policy if the decision is not in sync with other large shareholders.

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 KCC is showing 3 warning signs in our investment analysis , and 2 of those are significant...

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.