While institutions own 24% of Tsakos Energy Navigation Limited (NYSE:TEN), individual investors are its largest shareholders with 38% ownership

Key Insights

• Tsakos Energy Navigation's significant individual investors ownership suggests that the key decisions are influenced by shareholders from the larger public
• A total of 15 investors have a majority stake in the company with 50% ownership
• Insiders own 19% of Tsakos Energy Navigation

A look at the shareholders of Tsakos Energy Navigation Limited (NYSE:TEN) can tell us which group is most powerful. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are individual investors with 38% ownership. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

Meanwhile, institutions make up 24% of the company’s shareholders. Institutions will often hold stock in bigger companies, and we expect to see insiders owning a noticeable percentage of the smaller ones.

Let's take a closer look to see what the different types of shareholders can tell us about Tsakos Energy Navigation.

View our latest analysis for Tsakos Energy Navigation

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Tsakos Energy Navigation?

Institutions typically measure themselves against a benchmark when reporting to their own investors, so they often become more enthusiastic about a stock once it's included in a major index. We would expect most companies to have some institutions on the register, especially if they are growing.

As you can see, institutional investors have a fair amount of stake in Tsakos Energy Navigation. This can indicate that the company has a certain degree of credibility in the investment community. However, it is best to be wary of relying on the supposed validation that comes with institutional investors. They too, get it wrong sometimes. 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 Tsakos Energy Navigation's historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in Tsakos Energy Navigation. Panagiotis Tsakos is currently the largest shareholder, with 11% of shares outstanding. The second and third largest shareholders are Tsakos Holdings Foundation and Nikolas Tsakos, with an equal amount of shares to their name at 8.4%. Nikolas Tsakos, who is the third-largest shareholder, also happens to hold the title of Member of the Board of Directors.

After doing some more digging, we found that the top 15 have the combined ownership of 50% in the company, suggesting that no single shareholder has significant control over the company.

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. There is some analyst coverage of the stock, but it could still become more well known, with time.

Insider Ownership Of Tsakos Energy Navigation

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.

Our most recent data indicates that insiders own a reasonable proportion of Tsakos Energy Navigation Limited. Insiders have a US$133m stake in this US$684m business. 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-- including retail investors -- own 38% stake in the company, and hence can't easily be ignored. 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

We can see that Private Companies own 18%, of the shares on issue. It's hard to draw any conclusions from this fact alone, so its worth looking into who owns those private companies. Sometimes insiders or other related parties have an interest in shares in a public company through a separate private 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. For example, we've discovered 3 warning signs for Tsakos Energy Navigation that you should be aware of before investing here.

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.