What Is The Ownership Structure Like For Citizens Community Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:CZWI)?

The big shareholder groups in Citizens Community Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:CZWI) have power over the company. Generally speaking, as a company grows, institutions will increase their ownership. Conversely, insiders often decrease their ownership over time. Warren Buffett said that he likes "a business with enduring competitive advantages that is run by able and owner-oriented people." So it's nice to see some insider ownership, because it may suggest that management is owner-oriented.

With a market capitalization of US$121m, Citizens Community Bancorp is a small cap stock, so it might not be well known by many institutional investors. Taking a look at our data on the ownership groups (below), it seems that institutions own shares in the company. We can zoom in on the different ownership groups, to learn more about Citizens Community Bancorp.

View our latest analysis for Citizens Community Bancorp

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Citizens Community 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.

Citizens Community Bancorp already has institutions on the share registry. Indeed, they own a respectable stake in the company. 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. 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 Citizens Community Bancorp's historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.

It looks like hedge funds own 8.2% of Citizens Community Bancorp shares. That's interesting, because hedge funds can be quite active and activist. Many look for medium term catalysts that will drive the share price higher. The company's largest shareholder is Fourthstone LLC, with ownership of 10.0%. Banc Funds Company, L.L.C. is the second largest shareholder owning 9.2% of common stock, and FJ Capital Management, LLC holds about 8.2% of the company stock. In addition, we found that Stephen Bianchi, the CEO has 0.7% of the shares allocated to his name

A closer look at our ownership figures suggests that the top 15 shareholders have a combined ownership of 51% 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. Quite a few analysts cover the stock, so you could look into forecast growth quite easily.

Insider Ownership Of Citizens Community Bancorp

While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. Management ultimately answers to the board. However, it is not uncommon for managers to be executive board members, especially if they are a founder or the CEO.

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 Citizens Community Bancorp, Inc.. In their own names, insiders own US$7.4m worth of stock in the US$121m company. This shows at least some alignment, but I usually like to see larger insider holdings. You can click here to see if those insiders have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

With a 43% ownership, the general public have some degree of sway over Citizens Community Bancorp. While this group can't necessarily call the shots, it can certainly have a real influence on how the company is run.

Private Equity Ownership

Private equity firms hold a 9.2% stake in Citizens Community Bancorp. This suggests they can be influential in key policy decisions. Some might like this, because private equity are sometimes activists who hold management accountable. But other times, private equity is selling out, having taking the company public.

Next Steps:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Citizens Community Bancorp better, we need to consider many other factors. Case in point: We've spotted 3 warning signs for Citizens Community Bancorp you should be aware of, and 1 of them can't be ignored.

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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