CTO Realty Growth, Inc.'s (NYSE:CTO) high institutional ownership speaks for itself as stock continues to impress, up 12% over last week

Key Insights

• Institutions' substantial holdings in CTO Realty Growth implies that they have significant influence over the company's share price
• 50% of the business is held by the top 20 shareholders
• Insiders have sold recently

Every investor in CTO Realty Growth, Inc. (NYSE:CTO) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. We can see that institutions own the lion's share in the company with 61% ownership. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

Last week’s 12% gain means that institutional investors were on the positive end of the spectrum even as the company has shown strong longer-term trends. One-year return to shareholders is currently 35% and last week’s gain was the icing on the cake.

Let's take a closer look to see what the different types of shareholders can tell us about CTO Realty Growth.

See our latest analysis for CTO Realty Growth

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About CTO Realty Growth?

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.

We can see that CTO Realty Growth does have institutional investors; and they hold a good portion of the company's stock. 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. 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 CTO Realty Growth's historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.

Since institutional investors own more than half the issued stock, the board will likely have to pay attention to their preferences. CTO Realty Growth is not owned by hedge funds. BlackRock, Inc. is currently the company's largest shareholder with 8.5% of shares outstanding. Meanwhile, the second and third largest shareholders, hold 6.3% and 4.9%, of the shares outstanding, respectively. Additionally, the company's CEO John Albright directly holds 2.6% of the total shares outstanding.

After doing some more digging, we found that the top 20 have the combined ownership of 50% in the company, suggesting that no single shareholder has significant control over the company.

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 CTO Realty Growth

The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. Company management run the business, but the CEO will answer to the board, even if he or she is a member of it.

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.

It seems insiders own a significant proportion of CTO Realty Growth, Inc.. Insiders own US$54m worth of shares in the US$451m company. 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 26% 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 CTO Realty Growth better, we need to consider many other factors. To that end, you should learn about the 4 warning signs we've spotted with CTO Realty Growth (including 2 which are a bit concerning) .

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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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.