Hyundai Motor (005380) shares fell more than 2% even after the automaker decided to cancel about 789 billion won ($540 million) worth of treasury stock. With shareholder return programs at major Korean companies expanding sharply in recent weeks, analysts said the size of the cancellation fell short of the market's raised expectations.
Hyundai Motor, the country's fourth-largest company by market capitalization excluding preferred shares, traded at 412,500 won as of around 2:15 p.m. on the 26th, down 8,500 won, or 2.02%, from the previous session, according to the Korea Exchange. The stock opened at 425,000 won and climbed as high as 434,000 won before giving up its gains.
The decline reflects a shareholder return plan that came in below market expectations. In a regulatory filing on the same day, Hyundai Motor said it would cancel a total of 2,505,606 treasury shares, including 1,291,274 common shares and 1,214,332 preferred shares. The shares are existing treasury holdings, excluding those set aside for employee compensation, and the cancellation is scheduled for the 31st. The cancellation is valued at 789.1 billion won, less than 1% of Hyundai Motor's market capitalization, or about 0.92%.
A sharp expansion in shareholder returns at other large Korean companies has also lifted investor expectations. On the 19th, SK hynix (000660) said it would spend about 40 trillion won to acquire 24.07 million treasury shares, equivalent to 3.3% of its outstanding stock, and cancel all of them. Two days later, on the 21st, Samsung Electronics (005930) said its shareholder returns this year are expected to reach about 90 trillion to 110 trillion won.
Hyundai Motor also raised its medium- to long-term profitability targets alongside the share cancellation, but the stock has yet to gain traction. At its 2026 CEO Investor Day held the same day, the automaker lifted its 2030 consolidated operating margin target to 9% or higher from a previous 8% to 9%. It also said it plans to expand global production capacity by 1.27 million units from current levels by 2030 and launch more than 100 new models.
