While institutions invested in American National Bankshares Inc. (NASDAQ:AMNB) benefited from last week's 23% gain, individual investors stood to gain the most
Key Insights
Significant control over American National Bankshares by individual investors implies that the general public has more power to influence management and governance-related decisions
40% of the business is held by the top 25 shareholders
If you want to know who really controls American National Bankshares Inc. (NASDAQ:AMNB), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. We can see that individual investors own the lion's share in the company with 53% ownership. That is, the group stands to benefit the most if the stock rises (or lose the most if there is a downturn).
Following a 23% increase in the stock price last week, individual investors profited the most, but institutions who own 37% stock also stood to gain from the increase.
Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of American National Bankshares, beginning with the chart below.
See our latest analysis for American National Bankshares
What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About American National Bankshares?
Institutional investors commonly compare their own returns to the returns of a commonly followed index. So they generally do consider buying larger companies that are included in the relevant benchmark index.
As you can see, institutional investors have a fair amount of stake in American National Bankshares. This implies the analysts working for those institutions have looked at the stock and they like it. But just like anyone else, they could be wrong. When multiple institutions own a stock, there's always a risk that they are in a 'crowded trade'. When such a trade goes wrong, multiple parties may compete to sell stock fast. This risk is higher in a company without a history of growth. You can see American National Bankshares' historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.
It would appear that 5.2% of American National Bankshares shares are controlled by hedge funds. That's interesting, because hedge funds can be quite active and activist. Many look for medium term catalysts that will drive the share price higher. Our data shows that BlackRock, Inc. is the largest shareholder with 6.9% of shares outstanding. In comparison, the second and third largest shareholders hold about 5.2% and 4.7% of the stock. In addition, we found that Jeffrey Haley, the CEO has 0.8% of the shares allocated to their name.
On studying our ownership data, we found that 25 of the top shareholders collectively own less than 50% of the share register, implying that no single individual has a majority interest.
While it makes sense to study institutional ownership data for a company, it also makes sense to study analyst sentiments to know which way the wind is blowing. There is some analyst coverage of the stock, but it could still become more well known, with time.
Insider Ownership Of American National Bankshares
While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. The company management answer to the board and the latter should represent the interests of shareholders. Notably, sometimes top-level managers are on the board themselves.
Insider ownership is positive when it signals leadership are thinking like the true owners of the company. However, high insider ownership can also give immense power to a small group within the company. This can be negative in some circumstances.
Shareholders would probably be interested to learn that insiders own shares in American National Bankshares Inc.. In their own names, insiders own US$18m worth of stock in the US$407m company. Some would say this shows alignment of interests between shareholders and the board. But it might be worth checking if those insiders have been selling.
General Public Ownership
The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a substantial 53% stake in American National Bankshares, suggesting it is a fairly popular stock. This size of ownership gives investors from the general public some collective power. They can and probably do influence decisions on executive compensation, dividend policies and proposed business acquisitions.
Next Steps:
I find it very interesting to look at who exactly owns a company. But to truly gain insight, we need to consider other information, too. For example, we've discovered 1 warning sign for American National Bankshares that you should be aware of before investing here.
But ultimately it is the future, not the past, that will determine how well the owners of this business will do. Therefore we think it advisable to take a look at this free report showing whether analysts are predicting a brighter future.
NB: Figures in this article are calculated using data from the last twelve months, which refer to the 12-month period ending on the last date of the month the financial statement is dated. This may not be consistent with full year annual report figures.
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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.
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