Yahoo Finance Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Corporation (NASDAQ:GLDD) is largely controlled by institutional shareholders who own 84% of the company
Key Insights
Institutions' substantial holdings in Great Lakes Dredge & Dock implies that they have significant influence over the company's share price
The top 9 shareholders own 50% of the company
Using data from analyst forecasts alongside ownership research, one can better assess the future performance of a company
If you want to know who really controls Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Corporation (NASDAQ:GLDD), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. We can see that institutions own the lion's share in the company with 84% ownership. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.
Since institutional have access to huge amounts of capital, their market moves tend to receive a lot of scrutiny by retail or individual investors. Hence, having a considerable amount of institutional money invested in a company is often regarded as a desirable trait.
Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of Great Lakes Dredge & Dock, beginning with the chart below.
See our latest analysis for Great Lakes Dredge & Dock
What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Great Lakes Dredge & Dock?
Many institutions measure their performance against an index that approximates the local market. So they usually pay more attention to companies that are included in major indices.
As you can see, institutional investors have a fair amount of stake in Great Lakes Dredge & Dock. 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. 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 Great Lakes Dredge & Dock, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.
Institutional investors own over 50% of the company, so together than can probably strongly influence board decisions. Great Lakes Dredge & Dock is not owned by hedge funds. Looking at our data, we can see that the largest shareholder is BlackRock, Inc. with 11% of shares outstanding. In comparison, the second and third largest shareholders hold about 6.9% and 6.5% of the stock. Additionally, the company's CEO Lasse Petterson directly holds 1.4% of the total shares outstanding.
We also observed that the top 9 shareholders account for more than half of the share register, with a few smaller shareholders to balance the interests of the larger ones to a certain extent.
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 Great Lakes Dredge & Dock
The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. 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 some shares in Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Corporation. In their own names, insiders own US$12m worth of stock in the US$565m company. Some would say this shows alignment of interests between shareholders and the board. But it might be worth checking if those insiders have been selling.
General Public Ownership
The general public-- including retail investors -- own 14% stake in the company, and hence can't easily be ignored. 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. For instance, we've identified 2 warning signs for Great Lakes Dredge & Dock (1 is significant) that you should be aware of.
If you are like me, you may want to think about whether this company will grow or shrink. Luckily, you can check this free report showing analyst forecasts for its 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.
