A great week that adds to Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc.'s (NASDAQ:SASR) one-year returns, institutional investors who own 67% must be happy

Key Insights

• Significantly high institutional ownership implies Sandy Spring Bancorp's stock price is sensitive to their trading actions
• 50% of the business is held by the top 19 shareholders
• Analyst forecasts along with ownership data serve to give a strong idea about prospects for a business

If you want to know who really controls Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:SASR), 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 67% ownership. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

And things are looking up for institutional investors after the company gained US$93m in market cap last week. The gains from last week would have further boosted the one-year return to shareholders which currently stand at 5.5%.

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

View our latest analysis for Sandy Spring Bancorp

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Sandy Spring 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.

As you can see, institutional investors have a fair amount of stake in Sandy Spring Bancorp. 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 Sandy Spring Bancorp's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

Since institutional investors own more than half the issued stock, the board will likely have to pay attention to their preferences. Sandy Spring Bancorp is not owned by hedge funds. BlackRock, Inc. is currently the company's largest shareholder with 10.0% of shares outstanding. T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. is the second largest shareholder owning 6.1% of common stock, and The Vanguard Group, Inc. holds about 5.9% of the company stock.

Looking at the shareholder registry, we can see that 50% of the ownership is controlled by the top 19 shareholders, meaning that no single shareholder has a majority interest in the ownership.

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 Sandy Spring Bancorp

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

Shareholders would probably be interested to learn that insiders own shares in Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc.. As individuals, the insiders collectively own US$34m worth of the US$985m company. Some would say this shows alignment of interests between shareholders and the board. But it might be worth checking if those insiders have been selling.

General Public Ownership

With a 29% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Sandy Spring Bancorp. 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:

While it is well worth considering the different groups that own a company, there are other factors that are even more important. Take risks for example - Sandy Spring Bancorp has 1 warning sign we think you should be aware of.

If you are like me, you may want to think about whether this company will grow or shrink. Luckily, you can check this free report showing analyst forecasts for its 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.