Do Insiders Own Lots Of Shares In Ahn-Gook Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (KOSDAQ:001540)?

A look at the shareholders of Ahn-Gook Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (KOSDAQ:001540) can tell us which group is most powerful. Institutions often own shares in more established companies, while it's not unusual to see insiders own a fair bit of smaller companies. Warren Buffett said that he likes "a business with enduring competitive advantages that is run by able and owner-oriented people." So it's nice to see some insider ownership, because it may suggest that management is owner-oriented.

Ahn-Gook Pharmaceutical is not a large company by global standards. It has a market capitalization of ₩181b, which means it wouldn't have the attention of many institutional investors. In the chart below, we can see that institutions don't own many shares in the company. Let's take a closer look to see what the different types of shareholders can tell us about Ahn-Gook Pharmaceutical.

See our latest analysis for Ahn-Gook Pharmaceutical

What Does The Lack Of Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Ahn-Gook Pharmaceutical?

Institutional investors often avoid companies that are too small, too illiquid or too risky for their tastes. But it's unusual to see larger companies without any institutional investors.

There are many reasons why a company might not have any institutions on the share registry. It may be hard for institutions to buy large amounts of shares, if liquidity (the amount of shares traded each day) is low. If the company has not needed to raise capital, institutions might lack the opportunity to build a position. On the other hand, it's always possible that professional investors are avoiding a company because they don't think it's the best place for their money. Ahn-Gook Pharmaceutical's earnings and revenue track record (below) may not be compelling to institutional investors -- or they simply might not have looked at the business closely.

We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in Ahn-Gook Pharmaceutical. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is the CEO June-Sun Auh with 31% of shares outstanding. For context, the second largest shareholder holds about 26% of the shares outstanding, followed by an ownership of 0.6% by the third-largest shareholder. Interestingly, the second-largest shareholder, Uh Jin is also Co-Chief Executive Officer, again, pointing towards strong insider ownership amongst the company's top shareholders.

To make our study more interesting, we found that the top 2 shareholders have a majority ownership in the company, meaning that they are powerful enough to influence the decisions of the company.

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

Insider Ownership Of Ahn-Gook Pharmaceutical

The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. 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.

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.

Our most recent data indicates that insiders own the majority of Ahn-Gook Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.. This means they can collectively make decisions for the company. So they have a ₩103b stake in this ₩181b business. Most would be pleased to see the board is investing alongside them. You may wish todiscover (for free) if they have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public holds a 43% stake in Ahn-Gook Pharmaceutical. 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:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Ahn-Gook Pharmaceutical better, we need to consider many other factors. To that end, you should learn about the 2 warning signs we've spotted with Ahn-Gook Pharmaceutical (including 1 which is a bit unpleasant) .

Of course, you might find a fantastic investment by looking elsewhere. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies.

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. 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.
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