Institutions profited after Yuhan Corporation's (KRX:000100) market cap rose ₩1.1t last week but retail investors profited the most

Key Insights

• Yuhan's significant retail investors ownership suggests that the key decisions are influenced by shareholders from the larger public
• 44% of the business is held by the top 25 shareholders
• 29% of Yuhan is held by Institutions

Every investor in Yuhan Corporation (KRX:000100) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 54% to be precise, is retail investors. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

While retail investors were the group that benefitted the most from last week’s ₩1.1t market cap gain, institutions too had a 29% share in those profits.

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

View our latest analysis for Yuhan

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Yuhan?

Institutional investors commonly compare their own returns to the returns of a commonly followed index. So they generally do consider buying larger companies that are included in the relevant benchmark index.

Yuhan already has institutions on the share registry. Indeed, they own a respectable stake in the company. 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. If multiple institutions change their view on a stock at the same time, you could see the share price drop fast. It's therefore worth looking at Yuhan's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in Yuhan. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is Yuhan Foundation, Endowment Arm with 17% of shares outstanding. With 8.3% and 7.9% of the shares outstanding respectively, National Pension Service and Yuhan Academy, Endowment Arm are the second and third largest shareholders.

A deeper look at our ownership data shows that the top 25 shareholders collectively hold less than half of the register, suggesting a large group of small holders where no single shareholder has a majority.

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 Yuhan

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.

Insider ownership is positive when it signals leadership are thinking like the true owners of the company. However, high insider ownership can also give immense power to a small group within the company. This can be negative in some circumstances.

Our most recent data indicates that insiders own less than 1% of Yuhan Corporation. It is a pretty big company, so it would be possible for board members to own a meaningful interest in the company, without owning much of a proportional interest. In this case, they own around ₩12b worth of shares (at current prices). It is always good to see at least some insider ownership, but it might be worth checking if those insiders have been selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public -- including retail investors -- own 54% of Yuhan. This size of ownership gives investors from the general public some collective power. They can and probably do influence decisions on executive compensation, dividend policies and proposed business acquisitions.

Next Steps:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Yuhan better, we need to consider many other factors.

I like to dive deeper into how a company has performed in the past. You can access this interactive graph of past earnings, revenue and cash flow, for free.

If you are like me, you may want to think about whether this company will grow or shrink. Luckily, you can check this free report showing analyst forecasts for its 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.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.

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.