NHN Corporation's (KRX:181710) Top Key Executive Joon-Ho Lee is the most upbeat insider, and their holdings increased by 9.5% last week

Key Insights

• Significant insider control over NHN implies vested interests in company growth
• 59% of the business is held by the top 3 shareholders
• Institutions own 12% of NHN

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If you want to know who really controls NHN Corporation (KRX:181710), 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 individual insiders 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).

Clearly, insiders benefitted the most after the company's market cap rose by ₩80b last week.

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

See our latest analysis for NHN

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About NHN?

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.

As you can see, institutional investors have a fair amount of stake in NHN. 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 NHN'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 NHN. Because actions speak louder than words, we consider it a good sign when insiders own a significant stake in a company. In NHN's case, its Top Key Executive, Joon-Ho Lee, is the largest shareholder, holding 39% of shares outstanding. In comparison, the second and third largest shareholders hold about 11% and 9.6% of the stock.

To make our study more interesting, we found that the top 3 shareholders have a majority ownership in the company, meaning that they are powerful enough to influence the decisions of the company.

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 NHN

While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. 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 information suggests that insiders maintain a significant holding in NHN Corporation. Insiders have a ₩362b stake in this ₩922b business. This may suggest that the founders still own a lot of shares. You can click here to see if they have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

With a 28% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over NHN. While this group can't necessarily call the shots, it can certainly have a real influence on how the company is run.

Private Company Ownership

Our data indicates that Private Companies hold 20%, 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.

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. Case in point: We've spotted 2 warning signs for NHN you should be aware of.

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.