Yahoo Finance While insiders own 27% of Diana Shipping Inc. (NYSE:DSX), retail investors are its largest shareholders with 44% ownership
Key Insights
The considerable ownership by retail investors in Diana Shipping indicates that they collectively have a greater say in management and business strategy
A total of 6 investors have a majority stake in the company with 51% ownership
Every investor in Diana Shipping Inc. (NYSE:DSX) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are retail investors with 44% ownership. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.
Individual insiders, on the other hand, account for 27% of the company's stockholders. Institutions will often hold stock in bigger companies, and we expect to see insiders owning a noticeable percentage of the smaller ones.
In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of Diana Shipping.
View our latest analysis for Diana Shipping
What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Diana Shipping?
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.
Diana Shipping already has institutions on the share registry. Indeed, they own a respectable stake in the company. 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 Diana Shipping's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.
Diana Shipping is not owned by hedge funds. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is the CEO Semiramis Paliou with 18% of shares outstanding. Sea Trade Holdings Inc. is the second largest shareholder owning 13% of common stock, and Anastasios Margaronis holds about 9.3% of the company stock. Interestingly, the third-largest shareholder, Anastasios Margaronis is also a Member of the Board of Directors, again, indicating strong insider ownership amongst the company's top shareholders.
We did some more digging and found that 6 of the top shareholders account for roughly 51% of the register, implying that along with larger shareholders, there are a few smaller shareholders, thereby balancing out each others interests somewhat.
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 is a little analyst coverage of the stock, but not much. So there is room for it to gain more coverage.
Insider Ownership Of Diana Shipping
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 Diana Shipping Inc.. Insiders have a US$92m stake in this US$340m 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
With a 44% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Diana Shipping. 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.
Private Company Ownership
It seems that Private Companies own 18%, of the Diana Shipping stock. It might be worth looking deeper into this. If related parties, such as insiders, have an interest in one of these private companies, that should be disclosed in the annual report. Private companies may also have a strategic interest in the company.
Next Steps:
While it is well worth considering the different groups that own a company, there are other factors that are even more important. To that end, you should learn about the 5 warning signs we've spotted with Diana Shipping (including 2 which don't sit too well with us) .
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.
