A fantastic week for Bankwell Financial Group, Inc.'s (NASDAQ:BWFG) 39% institutional owners, one-year returns continue to impress

Key Insights

• Significantly high institutional ownership implies Bankwell Financial Group's stock price is sensitive to their trading actions
• The top 19 shareholders own 51% of the company
• Recent sales by insiders

A look at the shareholders of Bankwell Financial Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:BWFG) can tell us which group is most powerful. We can see that institutions own the lion's share in the company with 39% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

Last week’s 15% gain means that institutional investors were on the positive end of the spectrum even as the company has shown strong longer-term trends. One-year return to shareholders is currently 4.9% and last week’s gain was the icing on the cake.

Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of Bankwell Financial Group, beginning with the chart below.

See our latest analysis for Bankwell Financial Group

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Bankwell Financial Group?

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.

We can see that Bankwell Financial Group 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. It is not uncommon to see a big share price drop if two large institutional investors try to sell out of a stock at the same time. So it is worth checking the past earnings trajectory of Bankwell Financial Group, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

It would appear that 9.3% of Bankwell Financial Group shares are controlled by hedge funds. That catches my attention because hedge funds sometimes try to influence management, or bring about changes that will create near term value for shareholders. Our data shows that Veteri Place Corporation is the largest shareholder with 9.3% of shares outstanding. In comparison, the second and third largest shareholders hold about 5.3% and 4.3% of the stock. Furthermore, CEO Christopher Gruseke is the owner of 2.6% of the company's shares.

Looking at the shareholder registry, we can see that 51% of the ownership is controlled by the top 19 shareholders, meaning that no single shareholder has a majority interest in the ownership.

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 Bankwell Financial Group

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.

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.

Our most recent data indicates that insiders own a reasonable proportion of Bankwell Financial Group, Inc.. Insiders own US$27m worth of shares in the US$195m company. We would say this shows alignment with shareholders, but it is worth noting that the company is still quite small; some insiders may have founded the business. You can click here to see if those insiders have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

With a 38% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Bankwell Financial Group. While this size of ownership may not be enough to sway a policy decision in their favour, they can still make a collective impact on company policies.

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. Take risks for example - Bankwell Financial Group has 3 warning signs (and 1 which makes us a bit uncomfortable) we think you should know about.

If you would prefer discover what analysts are predicting in terms of future growth, do not miss this free report on analyst forecasts.

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.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team@simplywallst.com