Public companies are Hanil Cement Co., Ltd.'s (KRX:300720) biggest owners and were rewarded after market cap rose by ₩76b last week

Key Insights

• Hanil Cement's significant public companies ownership suggests that the key decisions are influenced by shareholders from the larger public
• 64% of the company is held by a single shareholder (Hanil Holdings Co., Ltd.)
• Institutions own 11% of Hanil Cement

If you want to know who really controls Hanil Cement Co., Ltd. (KRX:300720), 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 64% 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 ₩1.1t market cap following a 7.6% gain in the stock.

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

View our latest analysis for Hanil Cement

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Hanil Cement?

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 Hanil Cement does have institutional investors; and they hold a good portion of the company's stock. 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. 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 Hanil Cement'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 Hanil Cement. Our data shows that Hanil Holdings Co., Ltd. is the largest shareholder with 64% of shares outstanding. With such a huge stake in the ownership, we infer that they have significant control of the future of the company. For context, the second largest shareholder holds about 4.3% of the shares outstanding, followed by an ownership of 4.0% by the third-largest shareholder.

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

Insider Ownership Of Hanil Cement

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. Company management run the business, but the CEO will answer to the board, even if he or she is a member of it.

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 Hanil Cement Co., Ltd.. As individuals, the insiders collectively own ₩80b worth of the ₩1.1t company. It is good to see some investment by insiders, but it might be worth checking if those insiders have been buying.

General Public Ownership

The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a 17% stake in Hanil Cement. 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

We can see that public companies hold 64% of the Hanil Cement shares on issue. 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. Consider for instance, the ever-present spectre of investment risk. We've identified 1 warning sign with Hanil Cement , and understanding them should be part of your investment process.

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.