President Securities Corporation's (TWSE:2855) biggest owners are retail investors who got richer after stock soared 5.7% last week

Key Insights

• Significant control over President Securities by retail investors implies that the general public has more power to influence management and governance-related decisions
• A total of 12 investors have a majority stake in the company with 51% ownership
• Ownership research, combined with past performance data can help provide a good understanding of opportunities in a stock

Every investor in President Securities Corporation (TWSE:2855) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. With 45% stake, retail investors possess the maximum shares in the company. That is, the group stands to benefit the most if the stock rises (or lose the most if there is a downturn).

Clearly, retail investors benefitted the most after the company's market cap rose by NT$2.2b last week.

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

See our latest analysis for President Securities

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About President Securities?

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.

President Securities 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 President Securities' earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in President Securities. Our data shows that Uni-President Enterprises Corp. is the largest shareholder with 32% of shares outstanding. With 2.8% and 2.6% of the shares outstanding respectively, President Chain Store Corporation and The Vanguard Group, Inc. are the second and third largest shareholders.

Looking at the shareholder registry, we can see that 51% of the ownership is controlled by the top 12 shareholders, meaning that no single shareholder has a majority interest in the ownership.

While studying institutional ownership for a company can add value to your research, it is also a good practice to research analyst recommendations to get a deeper understand of a stock's expected performance. As far as we can tell there isn't analyst coverage of the company, so it is probably flying under the radar.

Insider Ownership Of President Securities

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.

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.

We can report that insiders do own shares in President Securities Corporation. This is a big company, so it is good to see this level of alignment. Insiders own NT$464m worth of shares (at current prices). Most would say this shows alignment of interests between shareholders and the board. Still, it might be worth checking if those insiders have been selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a 45% stake in President Securities. 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.

Private Company Ownership

It seems that Private Companies own 8.9%, of the President Securities stock. It might be worth looking deeper into this. If related parties, such as insiders, have an interest in one of these private companies, that should be disclosed in the annual report. Private companies may also have a strategic interest in the company.

Public Company Ownership

Public companies currently own 37% of President Securities stock. 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. For example, we've discovered 3 warning signs for President Securities (2 can't be ignored!) that you should be aware of before investing here.

Of course this may not be the best stock to buy. So take a peek at this free free list of interesting companies.

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.