Key Insights

• Significantly high institutional ownership implies Blue Foundry Bancorp's stock price is sensitive to their trading actions

• The top 8 shareholders own 52% of the company

• Insiders have sold recently

Every investor in Blue Foundry Bancorp (NASDAQ:BLFY) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. We can see that institutions 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).

As a result, institutional investors endured the highest losses last week after market cap fell by US$25m. Needless to say, the recent loss which further adds to the one-year loss to shareholders of 17% might not go down well especially with this category of shareholders. Often called “market movers", institutions wield significant power in influencing the price dynamics of any stock. Hence, if weakness in Blue Foundry Bancorp's share price continues, institutional investors may feel compelled to sell the stock, which might not be ideal for individual investors.

In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of Blue Foundry Bancorp.

View our latest analysis for Blue Foundry Bancorp

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Blue Foundry Bancorp?

Many institutions measure their performance against an index that approximates the local market. So they usually pay more attention to companies that are included in major indices.

We can see that Blue Foundry Bancorp does have institutional investors; and they hold a good portion of the company's stock. 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 Blue Foundry Bancorp's historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.

Since institutional investors own more than half the issued stock, the board will likely have to pay attention to their preferences. We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in Blue Foundry Bancorp. Our data shows that T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. is the largest shareholder with 12% of shares outstanding. For context, the second largest shareholder holds about 10% of the shares outstanding, followed by an ownership of 8.0% by the third-largest shareholder. In addition, we found that James Nesci, the CEO has 1.0% of the shares allocated to their name.

On further inspection, we found that more than half the company's shares are owned by the top 8 shareholders, suggesting that the interests of the larger shareholders are balanced out to an extent by the smaller ones.

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 is a little analyst coverage of the stock, but not much. So there is room for it to gain more coverage.

Insider Ownership Of Blue Foundry Bancorp

While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. Company management run the business, but the CEO will answer to the board, even if he or she is a member of it.

Most consider insider ownership a positive because it can indicate the board is well aligned with other shareholders. However, on some occasions too much power is concentrated within this group.

We can report that insiders do own shares in Blue Foundry Bancorp. As individuals, the insiders collectively own US$8.7m worth of the US$185m company. It is good to see some investment by insiders, but we usually like to see higher insider holdings. It might be worth checking if those insiders have been buying.

General Public Ownership

The general public-- including retail investors -- own 32% stake in the company, and hence can't easily be ignored. This size of ownership, while considerable, may not be enough to change company policy if the decision is not in sync with other large shareholders.

Next Steps:

While it is well worth considering the different groups that own a company, there are other factors that are even more important. Take risks for example - Blue Foundry Bancorp has 2 warning signs (and 1 which doesn't sit too well with us) we think you should know about.

Ultimately the future is most important. You can access this free report on analyst forecasts for the company.

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.