Key Insights

• Significantly high institutional ownership implies Peapack-Gladstone Financial's stock price is sensitive to their trading actions
• 50% of the business is held by the top 10 shareholders
• Insiders have been selling lately

If you want to know who really controls Peapack-Gladstone Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:PGC), 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 75% ownership. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

Institutional investors endured the highest losses after the company's market cap fell by US$68m last week. However, the 14% one-year returns may have helped alleviate their overall losses. We would assume however, that they would be on the lookout for weakness in the future.

Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of Peapack-Gladstone Financial, beginning with the chart below.

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Peapack-Gladstone Financial?

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 Peapack-Gladstone Financial does have institutional investors; and they hold a good portion of the company's stock. 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 Peapack-Gladstone Financial'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. Hedge funds don't have many shares in Peapack-Gladstone Financial. BlackRock, Inc. is currently the company's largest shareholder with 10% of shares outstanding. With 6.3% and 6.1% of the shares outstanding respectively, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP and James Weichert are the second and third largest shareholders. In addition, we found that Douglas Kennedy, the CEO has 0.5% of the shares allocated to their name.

We also observed that the top 10 shareholders account for more than half of the share register, with a few smaller shareholders to balance the interests of the larger ones to a certain extent.

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 plenty of analysts covering the stock, so it might be worth seeing what they are forecasting, too.

Insider Ownership Of Peapack-Gladstone Financial

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.

Our most recent data indicates that insiders own a reasonable proportion of Peapack-Gladstone Financial Corporation. Insiders have a US$64m stake in this US$606m business. We would say this shows alignment with shareholders, but it is worth noting that the company is still quite small; some insiders may have founded the business. You can click here to see if those insiders have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a 14% stake in Peapack-Gladstone Financial. 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:

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 Peapack-Gladstone Financial you should be aware of.

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.