Major shareholders simultaneously take profits when the market peaks

Market valuation is no longer cheap

Since the beginning of April 2025, the stock market has experienced more than 4 consecutive months of increase. The VN-Index has traded above 1,650 points - a historical peak.

According to data from VNDirect Securities Company, as of August 19, the P/E of the VN-Index has reached 14.91 times (compared to the lowest level in November 2022 of 9.82 times). This is a high level in many years.

Statistics over the past 4 years show that the market's P/E has ranged from 9.82x to 15x and the index is currently trading at a valuation that is no longer cheap compared to historical data. Market liquidity has also remained at a record level since July 29, with trading sessions matching up to 2.64 billion shares (while the previous average was only 1.36 billion shares/session).

Mr. Lam Van Van, representative of ECI Capital Investment Fund, said that the market is in the FOMO phase (fear of missing out on opportunities when seeing others succeed or earn a lot of profits). Investors focus on the story of pumping money into the economy ; the Government's efforts to remove legal obstacles for projects, promote public investment with a series of key national projects; positive business results of enterprises in the first half of 2025 when taking advantage of the time to postpone reciprocal taxes to accelerate exports... Meanwhile, many investors ignore the risks from exchange rates, reciprocal tariffs coming into effect, which can affect exports, trade flows and FDI attraction.

Many business leaders take profits

Over the past month, a series of leaders and major shareholders at businesses have simultaneously sold stocks on a large scale, in the context of hot price increases and maintaining high valuations.

At Vietnam Container Joint Stock Company (Viconship, code VSC), shareholder VietinBank Capital continuously sold, in just 2 days of August 12 and 14, sold more than 30 million VSC shares, reducing the ownership ratio from 10.82% to 2.8% of charter capital and officially no longer a major shareholder at Viconship.

Recently, VSC shares have attracted the attention of investors as the company has continuously purchased shares and owned 15.31% of charter capital at Hai An Transport and Stevedoring Joint Stock Company (code HAH), and at the same time put Chairman Nguyen Xuan Dung and General Director Ta Cong Thong on the Board of Directors of Hai An Company.

In addition, Viconship also contributed 600 billion VND to Hai An to establish Hai An Green Shipping Lines Company Limited, accounting for 60% of the charter capital. This is considered a move to expand the field of operation to transportation, in addition to Viconship's port sector.

Since acquiring Nam Hai Dinh Vu port, Viconship has continuously invested in shipping lines to expand its ecosystem. With the investment story in Hai An, from April 9 to August 19, VSC shares increased by 223.2%, from VND10,830 to VND35,000/share.

With the hot growth momentum, as of August 19, VSC shares were trading at a P/E of 32.47 times compared to the industry average of 18.06 times. Meanwhile, in normal times, VSC's P/E is usually below 10 times.

Similarly, at Mobile World Investment Corporation (code MWG), from April 9 to August 19, the stock increased by 49.2%, to VND68,000/share, trading at a P/E of 26.72 times compared to the industry average of 24.65 times, P/B of 3.58 times compared to the industry average of 3.39 times. Meanwhile, MWG's P/E in normal times is usually below 20 times.

The rising stock price has triggered profit-taking moves by leaders. After selling 94,700 shares, Mr. Pham Van Trong, member of the Board of Directors and General Director of the Bach Hoa Xanh chain, continued to register to sell an additional 500,000 MWG shares to reduce his ownership to 0.18% of charter capital (expected to be completed on September 19). Previously, on July 31, the Dragon Capital fund group sold 1,467,900 MWG shares, reducing his ownership from 6.03% to 5.93% of charter capital.

This development shows that the profit-taking trend is spreading, signaling a period when the market may enter a more volatile area.

Source: https://baodautu.vn/co-dong-lon-dong-loat-chot-loi-khi-thi-truong-len-dinh-d366689.html