BCB Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:BCBP) most popular amongst individual investors who own 48% of the shares, institutions hold 40%

editorial-team@simplywallst.com (Simply Wall St)

Mon, Jan 13, 2025, 4:55 AM 4 min read

To get a sense of who is truly in control of BCB Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:BCBP), it is important to understand the ownership structure of the business. We can see that individual investors own the lion's share in the company with 48% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

Meanwhile, institutions make up 40% of the company’s shareholders. Insiders often own a large chunk of younger, smaller, companies while huge companies tend to have institutions as shareholders.

In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of BCB Bancorp.

Check out our latest analysis for BCB Bancorp

ownership-breakdown — NasdaqGM:BCBP Ownership Breakdown January 13th 2025

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About BCB Bancorp?

Institutional investors commonly compare their own returns to the returns of a commonly followed index. So they generally do consider buying larger companies that are included in the relevant benchmark index.

BCB Bancorp already has institutions on the share registry. Indeed, they own a respectable stake in the company. 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 BCB Bancorp's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

earnings-and-revenue-growth — NasdaqGM:BCBP Earnings and Revenue Growth January 13th 2025

We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in BCB Bancorp. BlackRock, Inc. is currently the largest shareholder, with 6.5% of shares outstanding. With 5.6% and 4.6% of the shares outstanding respectively, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP and The Vanguard Group, Inc. are the second and third largest shareholders.

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 BCB Bancorp

While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. Management ultimately answers to the board. However, it is not uncommon for managers to be executive board members, especially if they are a founder or the CEO.

Most consider insider ownership a positive because it can indicate the board is well aligned with other shareholders. However, on some occasions too much power is concentrated within this group.

Our information suggests that insiders maintain a significant holding in BCB Bancorp, Inc.. It has a market capitalization of just US$187m, and insiders have US$24m worth of shares in their own names. 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, who are usually individual investors, hold a 48% stake in BCB Bancorp. 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 BCB Bancorp you should be aware of.

If you would prefer discover what analysts are predicting in terms of future growth, do not miss this free report on analyst forecasts.

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.