Retail investors among Korea Gas Corporation's (KRX:036460) largest stockholders and were hit after last week's 4.0% price drop

Key Insights

• Korea Gas' significant retail investors ownership suggests that the key decisions are influenced by shareholders from the larger public
• The top 3 shareholders own 58% of the company
• Institutional ownership in Korea Gas is 13%

If you want to know who really controls Korea Gas Corporation (KRX:036460), 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 retail investors with 37% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

And last week, retail investors endured the biggest losses as the stock fell by 4.0%.

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

Check out our latest analysis for Korea Gas

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Korea Gas?

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.

Korea Gas 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. When multiple institutions own a stock, there's always a risk that they are in a 'crowded trade'. When such a trade goes wrong, multiple parties may compete to sell stock fast. This risk is higher in a company without a history of growth. You can see Korea Gas' historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.

Korea Gas is not owned by hedge funds. Our data shows that The Republic of Korea is the largest shareholder with 28% of shares outstanding. For context, the second largest shareholder holds about 22% of the shares outstanding, followed by an ownership of 8.5% by the third-largest shareholder.

To make our study more interesting, we found that the top 3 shareholders have a majority ownership in the company, meaning that they are powerful enough to influence the decisions of the company.

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 Korea Gas

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.

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 data cannot confirm that board members are holding shares personally. It is unusual not to have at least some personal holdings by board members, so our data might be flawed. A good next step would be to check how much the CEO is paid.

General Public Ownership

The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a 37% stake in Korea Gas. 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.

Public Company Ownership

We can see that public companies hold 22% of the Korea Gas shares on issue. We can't be certain but it is quite possible this is a strategic stake. The businesses may be similar, or work together.

Next Steps:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Korea Gas better, we need to consider many other factors. Take risks for example - Korea Gas has 3 warning signs (and 1 which doesn't sit too well with us) we think you should know about.

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.