Individual investors invested in SHINSEGAE Inc. (KRX:004170) copped the brunt of last week's ₩84b market cap decline

Key Insights

• The considerable ownership by individual investors in SHINSEGAE indicates that they collectively have a greater say in management and business strategy
• A total of 8 investors have a majority stake in the company with 50% ownership
• Insiders own 30% of SHINSEGAE

A look at the shareholders of SHINSEGAE Inc. (KRX:004170) can tell us which group is most powerful. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 44% to be precise, is individual investors. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

While insiders, who own 30% shares weren’t spared from last week’s ₩84b market cap drop, individual investors as a group suffered the maximum losses

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

See our latest analysis for SHINSEGAE

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About SHINSEGAE?

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.

We can see that SHINSEGAE does have institutional investors; and they hold a good portion of the company's stock. 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. 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 SHINSEGAE's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

SHINSEGAE is not owned by hedge funds. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is Yoo-Kyung Jung with 20% of shares outstanding. With 11% and 11% of the shares outstanding respectively, National Pension Service and Myung-Hee Lee are the second and third largest shareholders.

On further inspection, we found that more than half the company's shares are owned by the top 8 shareholders, suggesting that the interests of the larger shareholders are balanced out to an extent by the smaller ones.

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 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 SHINSEGAE

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. 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.

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 most recent data indicates that insiders own a reasonable proportion of SHINSEGAE Inc.. Insiders have a ₩410b stake in this ₩1.3t 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

The general public-- including retail investors -- own 44% stake in the company, and hence can't easily be ignored. While this group can't necessarily call the shots, it can certainly have a real influence on how the company is run.

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. Be aware that SHINSEGAE is showing 3 warning signs in our investment analysis , and 1 of those is concerning...

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.

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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.