Key Insights

• Insiders appear to have a vested interest in Merchants Bancorp's growth, as seen by their sizeable ownership
• A total of 9 investors have a majority stake in the company with 50% ownership
• Insiders have bought recently

A look at the shareholders of Merchants Bancorp (NASDAQ:MBIN) can tell us which group is most powerful. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are individual insiders with 38% ownership. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

And looking at our data, we can see that insiders have bought shares recently. However, with shares price down 4.0% last week, they must be disappointed.

Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of Merchants Bancorp, beginning with the chart below.

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Merchants Bancorp?

Institutions typically measure themselves against a benchmark when reporting to their own investors, so they often become more enthusiastic about a stock once it's included in a major index. We would expect most companies to have some institutions on the register, especially if they are growing.

As you can see, institutional investors have a fair amount of stake in Merchants Bancorp. 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. 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 Merchants Bancorp, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in Merchants Bancorp. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is the CEO Michael Petrie with 30% of shares outstanding. Meanwhile, the second and third largest shareholders, hold 7.0% and 3.4%, of the shares outstanding, respectively.

On further inspection, we found that more than half the company's shares are owned by the top 9 shareholders, suggesting that the interests of the larger shareholders are balanced out to an extent by the smaller ones.

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 Merchants Bancorp

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.

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 Merchants Bancorp. It has a market capitalization of just US$1.9b, and insiders have US$715m worth of shares in their own names. That's quite significant. Most would say this shows a good degree of alignment with shareholders, especially in a company of this size. You can click here to see if those insiders have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

With a 29% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Merchants Bancorp. While this size of ownership may not be enough to sway a policy decision in their favour, they can still make a collective impact on company policies.

Next Steps:

While it is well worth considering the different groups that own a company, there are other factors that are even more important. Consider for instance, the ever-present spectre of investment risk. We've identified 1 warning sign with Merchants Bancorp , and understanding them should be part of your investment process.

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.