1.45 million individuals buy Samsung Electronics stocks

Minority shareholders of Samsung Electronics increased by threefold this year as more individuals opted for stocks.

According to the company’s half-year report on Tuesday, the number of minority shareholders holding less than one percent of the stocks was 1,454,373 as of late June. It is 2.6 times the number at the end of last year (568,313), which means 886,060 individuals bought Samsung stocks in half a year.

Individuals bought out a large volume sold by foreigners and institutions during this period. Foreigners sold Samsung stocks worth 6.7012 trillion won and institutions 1.9943 trillion won this year until late June. But individuals purchased stocks worth 8.3626 trillion won. The most popular stock among individuals in the market during this period was Samsung Electronics.

Blue chip stocks had more demands because strengthened regulations on real estate forced money to flow into the stock market while ultra-low interest rates rapidly increased liquidity in the market, analysts say. “Investors made new investments on blue chip stocks when stock prices crashed due to COVID-19 in the first half of this year and interest rates of savings were low,” said an insider of a major stock firm.

It seems that retail investors now have more influence over Samsung Electronics. As of late June, other institutions and individuals held 12.7 percent of the company’s stocks while foreigners held 55.0 percent, the largest shareholder 21.2 percent and the national pension 11.1 percent. It is 1.3 percentage points higher than the residual equity at the end of last year (11.4 percent).


zion37@donga.com