Institutional investors must be pleased after a 12% gain last week that adds to Granite Point Mortgage Trust Inc.'s (NYSE:GPMT) one-year returns

Key Insights

• Significantly high institutional ownership implies Granite Point Mortgage Trust's stock price is sensitive to their trading actions
• A total of 25 investors have a majority stake in the company with 47% ownership
• Insiders have bought recently

If you want to know who really controls Granite Point Mortgage Trust Inc. (NYSE:GPMT), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. We can see that institutions own the lion's share in the company with 57% ownership. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

And as as result, institutional investors reaped the most rewards after the company's stock price gained 12% last week. The gains from last week would have further boosted the one-year return to shareholders which currently stand at 2.2%.

Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of Granite Point Mortgage Trust, beginning with the chart below.

View our latest analysis for Granite Point Mortgage Trust

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Granite Point Mortgage Trust?

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.

Granite Point Mortgage Trust 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. It is not uncommon to see a big share price drop if two large institutional investors try to sell out of a stock at the same time. So it is worth checking the past earnings trajectory of Granite Point Mortgage Trust, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

Investors should note that institutions actually own more than half the company, so they can collectively wield significant power. We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in Granite Point Mortgage Trust. BlackRock, Inc. is currently the company's largest shareholder with 8.2% of shares outstanding. With 5.3% and 4.9% of the shares outstanding respectively, The Vanguard Group, Inc. and Millennium Group Management LLC are the second and third largest shareholders. Additionally, the company's CEO John Taylor directly holds 0.5% of the total shares outstanding.

Our studies suggest that the top 25 shareholders collectively control less than half of the company's shares, meaning that the company's shares are widely disseminated and there is no dominant shareholder.

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 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 Granite Point Mortgage Trust

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. 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.

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.

We can report that insiders do own shares in Granite Point Mortgage Trust Inc.. It has a market capitalization of just US$259m, and insiders have US$5.2m worth of shares, in their own names. It is good to see some investment by insiders, but it might be worth checking if those insiders have been buying.

General Public Ownership

With a 41% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Granite Point Mortgage Trust. While this group can't necessarily call the shots, it can certainly have a real influence on how the company is run.

Next Steps:

While it is well worth considering the different groups that own a company, there are other factors that are even more important. Be aware that Granite Point Mortgage Trust is showing 3 warning signs in our investment analysis , and 2 of those shouldn't be ignored...

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.