YOUR BUSINESS AUTHORITY
Springfield, MO
YOUR BUSINESS AUTHORITY
Springfield, MO
In the Aug. 14 edition of Springfield Business Journal, you’ll read an insightful story about a company doing business for 100 years. That’s no small feat.
The news feature on Great Southern Bancorp Inc. (Nasdaq: GSBC) is part of SBJ’s Milestones series on big anniversaries of companies that show their longevity in business locally and beyond.
While editing the story on Great Southern Bank, I discovered something about the ownership of the publicly traded company that I’d been wondering. Who, or what type of investors, represents the largest owner of shares? I found it in a Great Southern investor relations report: Institutional ownership represents the largest group, at 44.15%, followed by insider ownership of 26.08% and mutual funds third at 25.75%.
But then the big surprise came, another layer of information deeper. The No. 1 institutional owner is BlackRock Inc. (NYSE: BLK).
Yes, the New York City-based multinational investment company with over $100 billion in assets that makes financial headlines almost every day. Most recently, this report by Bloomberg: “New Zealand Works With BlackRock in Pursuit of 100% Green Power” about a $1.2 billion climate infrastructure fund underway. Other Bloomberg reports this year call BlackRock “the world’s top asset manager” and project its assets under management will top $15 trillion in five years.
According to Great Southern investor relations, BlackRock leads the way with 6.9% of the bank’s outstanding shares, valued at $45.2 million, as of March 31. So, yes, this 100-year-old Springfield-based financial institution has attracted a global investments leader to become its top institutional owner.
But there are other investment powerhouses after BlackRock. The No. 3 largest owner is Pennsylvania-based The Vanguard Group Inc., with 4.3% of GSBC shares, followed by No. 4 State Street Global Advisors (NYSE: STT) of Boston, with 2.3% of the bank’s shares. Those companies combined manage assets exceeding $10 trillion, so they know a thing or two about investing.
Farther down the list of institutional owners, each holding less than 1% of the bank’s shares, are household names Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. and Goldman Sachs Asset Management LP, as well as the Turner Family Foundation. The endowment arm of the Springfield-native Turners – which has had a family member at the helm of Great Southern since 1974 and been unequivocally instrumental in the bank’s growth – holds 0.78% of its shares, valued at $5.1 million, as of March 1.
Another point of interest in the Milestones story by SBJ reporter Mike Cullinan is the rapid growth noted. Over a 100-year period, a company is going to go through surges and sputtering.
The fastest growth for Great Southern was a four-year span, 2005-2009, when bank assets grew by $1 billion. It rivaled a preceding five-year stretch of $1 billion asset growth. So, in less than a decade, Great Southern amassed $2 billion in assets. Prior, it took 77 years for the bank to reach its first $1 billion. Read the story for the reasons why. And since it hit $3 billion in assets, it’s been 14 years, and Great Southern continues to grow at a steady pace, now sitting at $5.7 billion in assets.
Bank officials in the story credit company leadership and associates. Board members also play a part.
As Great Southern recognizes 100 years in business, here are the current board members that are sharing in that celebration:
I tip my cap to this group and another homegrown business success story.
Springfield Business Journal Editorial Vice President Eric Olson can be reached at eolson@sbj.net.
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Milestones: Banking Landmark