After losing 41% in the past year, Dorian LPG Ltd. (NYSE:LPG) institutional owners must be relieved by the recent gain

Key Insights

• Significantly high institutional ownership implies DorianG's stock price is sensitive to their trading actions
• A total of 12 investors have a majority stake in the company with 51% ownership
• Analyst forecasts along with ownership data serve to give a strong idea about prospects for a business

If you want to know who really controls Dorian LPG Ltd. (NYSE:LPG), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 71% to be precise, is institutions. That is, the group stands to benefit the most if the stock rises (or lose the most if there is a downturn).

Institutional investors would appreciate the 6.1% increase in share price last week, given their one-year losses have totalled a disappointing 41%.

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

Check out our latest analysis for DorianG

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About DorianG?

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.

We can see that DorianG 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. When multiple institutions own a stock, there's always a risk that they are in a 'crowded trade'. When such a trade goes wrong, multiple parties may compete to sell stock fast. This risk is higher in a company without a history of growth. You can see DorianG's historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.

Investors should note that institutions actually own more than half the company, so they can collectively wield significant power. Hedge funds don't have many shares in DorianG. BlackRock, Inc. is currently the largest shareholder, with 13% of shares outstanding. Meanwhile, the second and third largest shareholders, hold 8.0% and 7.0%, of the shares outstanding, respectively. In addition, we found that John Hadjipateras, the CEO has 4.6% of the shares allocated to their name.

After doing some more digging, we found that the top 12 have the combined ownership of 51% in the company, suggesting that no single shareholder has significant control over the company.

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 DorianG

While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. 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.

We can see that insiders own shares in Dorian LPG Ltd.. This is a big company, so it is good to see this level of alignment. Insiders own US$74m worth of shares (at current prices). Most would say this shows alignment of interests between shareholders and the board. Still, it might be worth checking if those insiders have been selling.

General Public Ownership

With a 22% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over DorianG. While this group can't necessarily call the shots, it can certainly have a real influence on how the company is run.

Next Steps:

While it is well worth considering the different groups that own a company, there are other factors that are even more important. Like risks, for instance. Every company has them, and we've spotted 2 warning signs for DorianG (of which 1 is concerning!) you should know about.

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.