Key findings

• The significant institutional holdings in Duke Energy imply that they have significant influence on the company’s share price.

• A total of 25 investors own the majority of the company with 43%

• Current sales by insiders

A look at Duke Energy Corporation (NYSE:DUK) shareholders tells us which group is the most powerful. The group that owns the most shares in the company, around 66%, are institutions. In other words, this group has the greatest upside potential (or downside risk).

Because institutional owners have a huge pool of resources and liquidity, their investment decisions tend to carry a lot of weight, especially with individual investors. Therefore, it is often considered desirable to have a significant amount of institutional money invested in a company.

Let’s take a closer look at what the different shareholder types can tell us about Duke Energy.

Check out our latest analysis for Duke Energy

What does institutional ownership tell us about Duke Energy?

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 their registry, especially if they’re growing.

As you can see, institutional investors hold a significant amount of Duke Energy. This suggests some credibility among professional investors. But we cannot rely on this fact alone, as institutions sometimes make bad investments, just like everyone else does. If multiple institutions change their minds about a stock at the same time, the share price can fall quickly. So it’s worth taking a look at Duke Energy’s earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

Institutional investors own over 50% of the company, so together they can probably strongly influence the board’s decisions. Duke Energy is not owned by hedge funds. Vanguard Group, Inc. is currently the company’s largest shareholder, with 9.2% of the shares outstanding. For comparison, the second and third largest shareholders hold about 7.6% and 4.9% of the shares, respectively.

Our research suggests that the top 25 shareholders collectively control less than half of the company’s shares. This means that company shares are widely dispersed and there is no dominant shareholder.

While studying institutional ownership of a company can enrich your research, it is also a good practice to research analyst recommendations to get a deeper understanding of a stock’s expected performance. Quite a few analysts cover the stock, so you can examine the forecast growth quite easily.

The story continues

Insider ownership of Duke Energy

The definition of an insider may vary slightly from country to country, but members of the board of directors are always included. Company management is accountable to the board of directors, which should represent the interests of shareholders. It happens that top-level executives sometimes sit on the board themselves.

Most people consider insider ownership to be a positive because it can indicate that the board is well aligned with other shareholders. However, sometimes too much power is concentrated in this group.

Our latest data shows that insiders own less than 1% of Duke Energy Corporation. Since it is a very large company, it would be surprising if insiders owned a large portion of the company. Although their ownership is less than 1%, we can see that the board members collectively own $127 million worth of shares (at the current price). In such a situation, it may be more interesting to see whether these insiders have been buying or selling.

Public property

The general public, usually retail investors, owns 34% of Duke Energy. While this group does not necessarily call the shots, it can certainly have a real influence on how the company is run.

Next Steps:

I find it very interesting to examine who exactly owns a company. But to gain real insight, we need to consider other information as well. Note that Duke Energy 3 warning signals in our investment analysis and one of them is a bit uncomfortable…

But ultimately It is the futurenot the past, will determine how well the owners of this company will perform, so we think it wise to take a look at this free report showing whether analysts are predicting a better future.

NB: The figures in this article are calculated using the last twelve months’ data, which refer to the 12-month period ending on the last day of the month in which the financial statements are dated. This may not match the figures in the annual report.

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This Simply Wall St article is of a general nature. We comment solely on the basis of historical data and analyst forecasts, using an unbiased methodology. Our articles do not constitute financial advice. It is not a recommendation to buy or sell any stock and does not take into account your objectives or financial situation. Our goal is to provide you with long-term analysis based on fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not take into account the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative materials. Simply Wall St does not hold any of the stocks mentioned.