Public companies are GC Biopharma Corp.'s (KRX:006280) biggest owners and were rewarded after market cap rose by ₩94b last week

Key Insights

• Significant control over GC Biopharma by public companies implies that the general public has more power to influence management and governance-related decisions
• Green Cross Holdings Corporation owns 51% of the company
• 17% of GC Biopharma is held by Institutions

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If you want to know who really controls GC Biopharma Corp. (KRX:006280), 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 51% 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 ₩1.5t market cap following a 6.4% gain in the stock.

Let's take a closer look to see what the different types of shareholders can tell us about GC Biopharma.

View our latest analysis for GC Biopharma

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About GC Biopharma?

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.

We can see that GC Biopharma does have institutional investors; and they hold a good portion of the company's stock. 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. 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 GC Biopharma, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

GC Biopharma is not owned by hedge funds. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is Green Cross Holdings Corporation with 51% of shares outstanding. This essentially means that they have extensive influence, if not outright control, over the future of the corporation. For context, the second largest shareholder holds about 10% of the shares outstanding, followed by an ownership of 1.9% by the third-largest shareholder. Additionally, the company's CEO Il-Sup Huh directly holds 0.6% of the total shares outstanding.

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 GC Biopharma

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. 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 data suggests that insiders own under 1% of GC Biopharma Corp. in their own names. Keep in mind that it's a big company, and the insiders own ₩15b worth of shares. The absolute value might be more important than the proportional share. Arguably, recent buying and selling is just as important to consider. You can click here to see if insiders have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public-- including retail investors -- own 31% 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

It appears to us that public companies own 51% of GC Biopharma. It's hard to say for sure but this suggests they have entwined business interests. This might be a strategic stake, so it's worth watching this space for changes in ownership.

Next Steps:

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

If you would prefer discover what analysts are predicting in terms of future growth, do not miss this free report on analyst forecasts.

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.