ConnectOne Bancorp, Inc.'s (NASDAQ:CNOB) high institutional ownership speaks for itself as stock continues to impress, up 7.6% over last week

Key Insights

• Significantly high institutional ownership implies ConnectOne Bancorp's stock price is sensitive to their trading actions
• The top 14 shareholders own 50% of the company
• Analyst forecasts along with ownership data serve to give a strong idea about prospects for a business

A look at the shareholders of ConnectOne Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:CNOB) can tell us which group is most powerful. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are institutions with 70% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

Last week’s 7.6% gain means that institutional investors were on the positive end of the spectrum even as the company has shown strong longer-term trends. The gains from last week would have further boosted the one-year return to shareholders which currently stand at 52%.

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

View our latest analysis for ConnectOne Bancorp

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About ConnectOne 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.

ConnectOne Bancorp already has institutions on the share registry. Indeed, they own a respectable stake in the company. 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 ConnectOne 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 ConnectOne Bancorp. BlackRock, Inc. is currently the company's largest shareholder with 11% of shares outstanding. With 9.0% and 5.9% of the shares outstanding respectively, FMR LLC and Dimensional Fund Advisors LP are the second and third largest shareholders. Additionally, the company's CEO Frank Sorrentino directly holds 2.0% of the total shares outstanding.

A closer look at our ownership figures suggests that the top 14 shareholders have a combined ownership of 50% implying that no single shareholder has a majority.

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.

Insider Ownership Of ConnectOne Bancorp

The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. 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.

Our most recent data indicates that insiders own some shares in ConnectOne Bancorp, Inc.. It is a pretty big company, so it is generally a positive to see some potentially meaningful alignment. In this case, they own around US$68m worth of shares (at current prices). It is good to see this level of investment by insiders. You can check here to see if those insiders have been buying recently.

General Public Ownership

The general public-- including retail investors -- own 24% 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:

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

I like to dive deeper into how a company has performed in the past. You can find historic revenue and earnings in this detailed graph.

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.