While institutions invested in Guaranty Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:GNTY) benefited from last week's 10% gain, individual investors stood to gain the most

Key Insights

• The considerable ownership by individual investors in Guaranty Bancshares indicates that they collectively have a greater say in management and business strategy
• The top 25 shareholders own 44% of the company
• 20% of Guaranty Bancshares is held by insiders

A look at the shareholders of Guaranty Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE:GNTY) can tell us which group is most powerful. We can see that individual investors own the lion's share in the company with 52% ownership. That is, the group stands to benefit the most if the stock rises (or lose the most if there is a downturn).

Individual investors gained the most after market cap touched US$362m last week, while institutions who own 23% also benefitted.

In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of Guaranty Bancshares.

Check out our latest analysis for Guaranty Bancshares

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Guaranty Bancshares?

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.

Guaranty Bancshares 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. 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 Guaranty Bancshares' earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

Guaranty Bancshares is not owned by hedge funds. Richard Baker is currently the company's largest shareholder with 5.7% of shares outstanding. Guaranty Bancshares Inc. , ESOP is the second largest shareholder owning 5.1% of common stock, and BlackRock, Inc. holds about 5.0% of the company stock. In addition, we found that Tyson Abston, the CEO has 1.0% of the shares allocated to their name.

On studying our ownership data, we found that 25 of the top shareholders collectively own less than 50% of the share register, implying that no single individual has a majority interest.

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 a reasonable number of analysts covering the stock, so it might be useful to find out their aggregate view on the future.

Insider Ownership Of Guaranty Bancshares

The definition of company insiders can be subjective and does vary between jurisdictions. Our data reflects individual insiders, capturing board members at the very least. 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.

I generally consider insider ownership to be a good thing. However, on some occasions it makes it more difficult for other shareholders to hold the board accountable for decisions.

Our information suggests that insiders maintain a significant holding in Guaranty Bancshares, Inc.. It has a market capitalization of just US$362m, and insiders have US$74m worth of shares in their own names. This may suggest that the founders still own a lot of shares. You can click here to see if they have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public -- including retail investors -- own 52% of Guaranty Bancshares. This size of ownership gives investors from the general public some collective power. They can and probably do influence decisions on executive compensation, dividend policies and proposed business acquisitions.

Next Steps:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Guaranty Bancshares better, we need to consider many other factors. For instance, we've identified 2 warning signs for Guaranty Bancshares (1 can't be ignored) that 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.