The stocks most heavily bought by high-return investors trading at Mirae Asset Securities (006800.KS) on the 21st were Samsung Electronics (005930.KS), Samsung Electro-Mechanics (009150.KS) and LS (006260.KS), in that order. Amid growing expectations that Samsung Electronics could unveil a large shareholder-return program of around 100 trillion won ($72 billion), bargain buyers also moved into leading stocks that had fallen sharply, such as Samsung Electro-Mechanics.
According to Mirae Asset Securities, the stock most heavily bought as of 11 a.m. by "elite retail investors" — those ranking in the top 1% by return over the past month among the brokerage's trading clients — was Samsung Electronics. The stock was trading at 278,500 won at the same time, up 2.77% from the previous session.
The buying is seen as spurred by expectations that Samsung Electronics could unveil a large shareholder-return policy as early as this month. Bloomberg reported that the size of Samsung Electronics' shareholder returns could reach between 90 trillion and 110 trillion won. DS Investment & Securities estimated the company's free cash flow (FCF) at 263.2 trillion won this year, and calculated that after setting aside 50% of cumulative FCF over the past three years and excluding regular dividends, the company has room to return an additional 131.8 trillion won.
Samsung Electronics itself said, when it reported its second-quarter earnings, that it was discussing a shareholder-return policy including a special dividend, as well as its next policy. The company operates a policy of using 50% of its cumulative free cash flow over the three years from 2024 to 2026 for shareholder returns. In a report released that day, KB Securities estimated that applying the policy, a special dividend within the year using the remaining funds would exceed at least 100 trillion won. Kim Dong-won, head of research at KB Securities, said, "If the cash-dividend portion of a special dividend expands, the higher dividend yield will stand out, and Samsung Electronics' share price could settle in the 300,000-won range in the short term."
The second-most bought stock was Samsung Electro-Mechanics. The stock was trading down 5.80% at 1.315 million won, and funds appear to have flowed in from investors who saw the decline as a buying opportunity. Medium- to long-term earnings expectations are also continuing on the back of rising demand for multilayer ceramic capacitors (MLCCs) and substrates for artificial intelligence (AI) servers. Yuanta Securities said Samsung Electro-Mechanics is discussing about 10 long-term agreements (LTAs) to meet demand for ultra-high-voltage, high-capacity MLCCs for high-performance AI servers, and assessed that expanding capacity using advance payments from clients would also be a factor in reducing earnings volatility.
LS came in third among net buys, trading down 6.70% at 292,500 won. Fourth-ranked SK Securities (001510.KS) traded up 5.87% at 2,975 won. The catalyst was SK hynix's (000660.KS) selection of SK Securities as the brokerage agent for its plan, announced on the 19th, to buy back 40 trillion won worth of its own shares on the open market and retire all of them. SK Securities' share price has risen more than 37% from its close of 2,165 won on the 19th. The size of the fee SK Securities will receive, however, has not been disclosed.
Conversely, the most heavily sold stock was SK hynix. SK hynix was trading up 3.19% at 1.745 million won. Having gone from the top net buy the previous day to the top net sell in a single day, investors are seen to have moved to lock in gains. Along with the 40 trillion won share buyback and retirement, SK hynix has said it will return "more than 50%" of its cumulative FCF over the 2025-2027 period to shareholders. Hanwha Investment & Securities estimated the three-year cumulative FCF at about 491 trillion won and analyzed that the minimum return could exceed 245 trillion won.
Samyang Biopharm (0120G0.KS), the second-most sold stock, traded up 4.45% at 58,700 won. The company hit its daily upper limit on the 20th after releasing research results confirming the mRNA cancer-vaccine delivery effect of its in-house gene-delivery vehicle "Nanoready." Some profit-taking appears to have emerged after biotech investor sentiment heated up, compounded by U.S. firm Moderna surging 177% on the New York Stock Exchange on the 19th, local time.
In addition, Naver (035420.KS), OCI Holdings (010060.KS) and GS Engineering & Construction (006360.KS) also ranked among the top net sells. On the previous trading day, the top net buys were SK hynix, Samsung Electronics and Pharma Research (214450.KS), in that order, while the top net sells were Korea Electric Power (015760.KS), Alteogen (196170.KS) and Samsung SDI (006400.KS).
Mirae Asset Securities compiles the trades of investors ranking in the top 1% by return over the past month among its clients and discloses them on its mobile trading system (MTS) on a real-time, previous-day and recent five-day basis. This statistical data is simple information provided independently of Mirae Asset Securities' opinions, and does not guarantee investments or returns suited to individual investors. Investors should be cautious, as theme-related stocks carry the possibility of abnormal price swings.
