Community Trust Bancorp, Inc.'s (NASDAQ:CTBI) recent 6.7% pullback adds to one-year year losses, institutional owners may take drastic measures

Key Insights

• Institutions' substantial holdings in Community Trust Bancorp implies that they have significant influence over the company's share price
• A total of 20 investors have a majority stake in the company with 50% ownership
• Insiders have bought recently

If you want to know who really controls Community Trust Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:CTBI), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are institutions with 60% ownership. That is, the group stands to benefit the most if the stock rises (or lose the most if there is a downturn).

And institutional investors endured the highest losses after the company's share price fell by 6.7% last week. Needless to say, the recent loss which further adds to the one-year loss to shareholders of 3.7% might not go down well especially with this category of shareholders. Often called “market makers”, institutions wield significant power in influencing the price dynamics of any stock. Hence, if weakness in Community Trust 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 Community Trust Bancorp.

Check out our latest analysis for Community Trust Bancorp

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Community Trust 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.

Community Trust Bancorp already has institutions on the share registry. Indeed, they own a respectable stake in the company. This can indicate that the company has a certain degree of credibility in the investment community. However, it is best to be wary of relying on the supposed validation that comes with institutional investors. They too, get it wrong sometimes. 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 Community Trust Bancorp's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

Investors should note that institutions actually own more than half the company, so they can collectively wield significant power. Hedge funds don't have many shares in Community Trust Bancorp. Community Trust and Investment Company is currently the company's largest shareholder with 11% of shares outstanding. For context, the second largest shareholder holds about 8.6% of the shares outstanding, followed by an ownership of 6.3% by the third-largest shareholder.

Looking at the shareholder registry, we can see that 50% of the ownership is controlled by the top 20 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 Community Trust Bancorp

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.

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.

We can see that insiders own shares in Community Trust Bancorp, Inc.. As individuals, the insiders collectively own US$35m worth of the US$713m company. It is good to see some investment by insiders, but it might be worth checking if those insiders have been buying.

General Public Ownership

The general public-- including retail investors -- own 35% 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 Community Trust Bancorp better, we need to consider many other factors. For example, we've discovered 1 warning sign for Community Trust Bancorp that you should be aware of before investing here.

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.