Key Insights

• Given the large stake in the stock by institutions, Great Southern Bancorp's stock price might be vulnerable to their trading decisions

• 50% of the business is held by the top 11 shareholders

• Recent sales by insiders

Every investor in Great Southern Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:GSBC) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. We can see that institutions own the lion's share in the company with 44% ownership. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

Because institutional owners have a huge pool of resources and liquidity, their investing decisions tend to carry a great deal of weight, especially with individual investors. Therefore, a good portion of institutional money invested in the company is usually a huge vote of confidence on its future.

Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of Great Southern Bancorp, beginning with the chart below.

View our latest analysis for Great Southern Bancorp

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Great Southern Bancorp?

Institutions typically measure themselves against a benchmark when reporting to their own investors, so they often become more enthusiastic about a stock once it's included in a major index. We would expect most companies to have some institutions on the register, especially if they are growing.

Great Southern Bancorp already has institutions on the share registry. Indeed, they own a respectable stake in the company. This suggests some credibility amongst professional investors. But we can't rely on that fact alone since institutions make bad investments sometimes, just like everyone does. If multiple institutions change their view on a stock at the same time, you could see the share price drop fast. It's therefore worth looking at Great Southern Bancorp's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in Great Southern Bancorp. Our data shows that Thomas Turner is the largest shareholder with 13% of shares outstanding. Earl Steinert is the second largest shareholder owning 8.0% of common stock, and BlackRock, Inc. holds about 6.7% of the company stock. Furthermore, CEO Joseph Turner is the owner of 1.4% of the company's shares.

Looking at the shareholder registry, we can see that 50% of the ownership is controlled by the top 11 shareholders, meaning that no single shareholder has a majority interest in the ownership.

While studying institutional ownership for a company can add value to your research, it is also a good practice to research analyst recommendations to get a deeper understand of a stock's expected performance. There are plenty of analysts covering the stock, so it might be worth seeing what they are forecasting, too.