'National Stock' Samsung Electronics Minor Shareholders Increase 90 Times in 5 Years to "110,000"... 5 Million Small Shareholders

Shareholder Ratio Rises from 1% to 5% Range... Average of 51 Shares Held per Person

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Seon-ae] The number of Samsung Electronics shareholders under the age of 20, often referred to as the "Korea's blue-chip stock" and "national stock," has surged approximately 90 times over the past five years.

According to the Securities Information Portal SaveRO of the Korea Securities Depository on the 5th, as of the end of last year, the number of Samsung Electronics shareholders under 20 was 115,083. Minor shareholders account for 5.34% of Samsung Electronics' total 2,154,081 shareholders. The total shares they hold amount to 5,882,569, which is about 0.1% of the issued shares. The valuation of these 5,882,569 shares was 476.5 billion KRW at the end of last year and 485.9 billion KRW based on the closing price on the 4th.

This year, the number of Samsung Electronics investors has surged, leading industry experts to speculate that the number of small shareholders could approach 5 million. Therefore, the number of minor shareholders is also expected to have increased.

The number of Samsung Electronics minor shareholders increased more than tenfold from 1,290 at the end of 2016 to 15,021 in 2018, when a stock split was conducted, and then nearly tenfold again over the next two years. The proportion of shareholders under 20 among all shareholders also rose from 1.93% at the end of 2016 to 5.34% at the end of 2020.

As of the end of last year, the average number of Samsung Electronics shares held per minor shareholder was 51 shares. Converted at the closing price of 82,600 KRW on the 4th, this amounts to 4,212,600 KRW worth of shares.

With the surge in small shareholders due to the stock investment craze, the average number of shares held by each shareholder under 20 has decreased. Since the stock split, the average number of shares held per minor shareholder dropped from 130 shares at the end of 2018 to less than half last year.

There is no age restriction on stock trading, but minors must have parental consent to open a stock account. Many parents buy stocks for their children as gifts or for inheritance purposes, and recently, the number of teenagers directly engaging in stock investment has been increasing.

In this atmosphere, the number of stock accounts opened under minors' names also surged last year. According to data received by Lee Joo-hwan, a member of the People Power Party, from KEB Hana Bank, KB Kookmin Bank, and the Korea Securities Depository, the number of minors holding stock accounts increased from 187,532 in 2018 to 204,696 in 2019, and 601,568 in 2020. The value of stocks held nearly doubled over two years, from 1.5418 trillion KRW in 2018 to 3.0472 trillion KRW in 2020.