As shares of Samsung Electronics and SK hynix have jumped recently, the value of stock held by some registered executives has surged. The return on their holdings ranged from at least the 180% level to as high as the 400% level.
According to the Financial Supervisory Service's electronic disclosure system on the 31st, the appraised value of shares held by three registered executives at Samsung Electronics and two at SK hynix totaled 101.2 billion won based on the closing price on the 29th. The executive with the largest appraised value was SK hynix CEO (president) Kwak Noh-jung. The appraised value of Kwak's 14,312 SK hynix shares was 33.39 billion won. Calculated by applying the closing price on the acquisition date to the acquisition amount, Kwak's average purchase price was about 680,000 won. Based on that, the valuation gain was 23.6 billion won, with a return of 241%.
SK hynix President Cha Sun-yong posted the highest return, exceeding 400%. Cha holds 6,834 SK hynix shares. The average price is about 430,000 won, and the appraised value is 15.9 billion won. The valuation gain is 13 billion won.
The returns for Kwak and Cha were influenced by the exercise of stock options on the 6th of last month. Each exercised 2,329 shares at 138,980 won per share at that time. SK hynix was at 886,000 won then.
At Samsung Electronics, the appraised value of shares held by Samsung Electronics CEO (president) and DX (finished goods) head Roh Tae-Moon topped 30 billion won. Roh's appraised holdings came to 31.2 billion won. From 2021 to 2024, when Samsung Electronics traded between 60,000 won and 81,700 won, Roh directly purchased a total of 28,000 shares as part of accountable management. For those shares alone, the average price is about 71,000 won. Compared with the closing price on the 29th, the return is around 347%. Including roughly 70,000 additional shares received as bonuses last year and this year, the overall average price of his holdings is about 126,000 won. Based on that, the return is in the 180% range.
Samsung Electronics CEO (vice chairman) and DS (semiconductor) head Jun Young-hyun and DS division head of corporate strategy (president) Kim Yong-kwan hold 32,787 and 32,158 Samsung Electronics shares, respectively. Based on the closing price on the 29th, the appraised values are 10.4 billion won and 10.2 billion won, respectively. The returns are 182% for Jun and 241% for Kim.
The rise in Samsung Electronics and SK hynix shares is seen as reflecting expectations of an improving memory market. In the securities community, some also say the two companies' shares have room to climb further as a memory supply shortage centered on high bandwidth memory (HBM) persists.