Backblaze, Inc.'s (NASDAQ:BLZE) 10% loss last week hit both individual investors who own 51% as well as institutions

Key Insights

• The considerable ownership by retail investors in Backblaze indicates that they collectively have a greater say in management and business strategy
• 40% of the business is held by the top 25 shareholders
• 40% of Backblaze is held by Institutions

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To get a sense of who is truly in control of Backblaze, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLZE), it is important to understand the ownership structure of the business. We can see that retail investors own the lion's share in the company with 51% ownership. That is, the group stands to benefit the most if the stock rises (or lose the most if there is a downturn).

While institutions, who own 40% shares weren’t spared from last week’s US$31m market cap drop, retail investors as a group suffered the maximum losses

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

View our latest analysis for Backblaze

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Backblaze?

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 Backblaze 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. 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 Backblaze, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

It looks like hedge funds own 5.5% of Backblaze shares. That worth noting, since hedge funds are often quite active investors, who may try to influence management. Many want to see value creation (and a higher share price) in the short term or medium term. BlackRock, Inc. is currently the largest shareholder, with 5.9% of shares outstanding. In comparison, the second and third largest shareholders hold about 5.5% and 4.4% of the stock. Additionally, the company's CEO Gleb Budman directly holds 3.2% of the total shares outstanding.

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. Quite a few analysts cover the stock, so you could look into forecast growth quite easily.

Insider Ownership Of Backblaze

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.

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 see that insiders own shares in Backblaze, Inc.. It has a market capitalization of just US$268m, and insiders have US$10m 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

The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a substantial 51% stake in Backblaze, suggesting it is a fairly popular stock. This level of ownership gives investors from the wider public some power to sway key policy decisions such as board composition, executive compensation, and the dividend payout ratio.

Next Steps:

I find it very interesting to look at who exactly owns a company. But to truly gain insight, we need to consider other information, too. Case in point: We've spotted 2 warning signs for Backblaze you should be aware of, and 1 of them shouldn'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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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.