Key Insights

• Significant control over Coastal Financial by individual investors implies that the general public has more power to influence management and governance-related decisions
• The top 25 shareholders own 45% of the company
• Insiders have been selling lately

A look at the shareholders of Coastal Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:CCB) can tell us which group is most powerful. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 54% to be precise, is individual investors. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

Individual investors gained the most after market cap touched US$787m last week, while institutions who own 28% also benefitted.

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

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Coastal Financial?

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.

We can see that Coastal Financial 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. 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 Coastal Financial's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in Coastal Financial. Steven Hovde is currently the company's largest shareholder with 13% of shares outstanding. In comparison, the second and third largest shareholders hold about 8.3% and 4.6% of the stock. In addition, we found that Eric Sprink, the CEO has 1.0% of the shares allocated to their name.

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.

Researching institutional ownership is a good way to gauge and filter a stock's expected performance. The same can be achieved by studying analyst sentiments. There are plenty of analysts covering the stock, so it might be worth seeing what they are forecasting, too.

Insider Ownership Of Coastal Financial

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.

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.

Our most recent data indicates that insiders own a reasonable proportion of Coastal Financial Corporation. Insiders have a US$145m stake in this US$787m business. It is great to see insiders so invested in the business. It might be worth checking if those insiders have been buying recently.

General Public Ownership

The general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, collectively holds 54% of Coastal Financial shares. With this amount of ownership, retail investors can collectively play a role in decisions that affect shareholder returns, such as dividend policies and the appointment of directors. They can also exercise the power to vote on acquisitions or mergers that may not improve profitability.

Next Steps:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Coastal Financial better, we need to consider many other factors. Consider for instance, the ever-present spectre of investment risk. We've identified 1 warning sign with Coastal Financial , and understanding them should be part of your investment process.

But ultimately it is the future, not the past, that will determine how well the owners of this business will do. Therefore we think it advisable to take a look at this free report showing whether analysts are predicting a brighter 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.