Affinity Bancshares, Inc.'s (NASDAQ:AFBI) 10% loss last week hit both individual investors who own 45% as well as institutions

Key Insights

• Affinity Bancshares' significant retail investors ownership suggests that the key decisions are influenced by shareholders from the larger public
• A total of 18 investors have a majority stake in the company with 50% ownership
• Insiders own 20% of Affinity Bancshares

If you want to know who really controls Affinity Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:AFBI), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. We can see that retail investors own the lion's share in the company with 45% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

While institutions who own 27% came under pressure after market cap dropped to US$127m last week,retail investors took the most losses.

Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of Affinity Bancshares, beginning with the chart below.

Check out our latest analysis for Affinity Bancshares

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Affinity Bancshares?

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 Affinity Bancshares does have institutional investors; and they hold a good portion of the company's stock. 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 Affinity Bancshares' earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in Affinity Bancshares. Our data shows that Kenneth Lehman is the largest shareholder with 13% of shares outstanding. Meanwhile, the second and third largest shareholders, hold 8.4% and 6.2%, of the shares outstanding, respectively. In addition, we found that Edward Cooney, the CEO has 1.8% of the shares allocated to their name.

Looking at the shareholder registry, we can see that 50% of the ownership is controlled by the top 18 shareholders, meaning that no single shareholder has a majority interest in the ownership.

Researching institutional ownership is a good way to gauge and filter a stock's expected performance. The same can be achieved by studying analyst sentiments. We're not picking up on any analyst coverage of the stock at the moment, so the company is unlikely to be widely held.

Insider Ownership Of Affinity Bancshares

The definition of company insiders can be subjective and does vary between jurisdictions. Our data reflects individual insiders, capturing board members at the very least. 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.

Our information suggests that insiders maintain a significant holding in Affinity Bancshares, Inc.. Insiders have a US$26m stake in this US$127m business. It is great to see insiders so invested in the business. It might be worth checking if those insiders have been buying recently.

General Public Ownership

With a 45% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Affinity Bancshares. While this group can't necessarily call the shots, it can certainly have a real influence on how the company is run.

Next Steps:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Affinity Bancshares better, we need to consider many other factors.

I always like to check for a history of revenue growth. You can too, by accessing this free chart of historic revenue and earnings in this detailed graph.

If you would prefer check out another company -- one with potentially superior financials -- then do not miss this free list of interesting companies, backed by strong financial data.

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.