ST Pharm Co.,Ltd.'s (KOSDAQ:237690) market cap surged ₩157b last week, retail investors who have a lot riding on the company were rewarded

Key Insights

• ST PharmLtd's significant retail investors ownership suggests that the key decisions are influenced by shareholders from the larger public
• The top 16 shareholders own 50% of the company
• 12% of ST PharmLtd is held by Institutions

Every investor in ST Pharm Co.,Ltd. (KOSDAQ:237690) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. With 49% stake, retail investors possess the maximum shares in the company. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

As a result, retail investors collectively scored the highest last week as the company hit ₩2.0t market cap following a 8.4% gain in the stock.

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

View our latest analysis for ST PharmLtd

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About ST PharmLtd?

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 ST PharmLtd. 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. It is not uncommon to see a big share price drop if two large institutional investors try to sell out of a stock at the same time. So it is worth checking the past earnings trajectory of ST PharmLtd, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in ST PharmLtd. Dong-A Socio Holdings Co., Ltd. is currently the company's largest shareholder with 30% of shares outstanding. Jung-Seok Kang is the second largest shareholder owning 7.6% of common stock, and National Pension Service holds about 3.7% of the company stock.

After doing some more digging, we found that the top 16 have the combined ownership of 50% in the company, suggesting that no single shareholder has significant control over the company.

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 are plenty of analysts covering the stock, so it might be worth seeing what they are forecasting, too.

Insider Ownership Of ST PharmLtd

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

We can report that insiders do own shares in ST Pharm Co.,Ltd.. The insiders have a meaningful stake worth ₩159b. Most would see this as a real positive. It is good to see this level of investment by insiders. You can check here to see if those insiders have been buying recently.

General Public Ownership

The general public-- including retail investors -- own 49% stake in the company, and hence can't easily be ignored. 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 30% of the ST PharmLtd 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. Case in point: We've spotted 3 warning signs for ST PharmLtd you should be aware of.

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.