The big shareholder groups in Piedmont Office Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:PDM) have power over the company. Institutions will often hold stock in bigger companies, and we expect to see insiders owning a noticeable percentage of the smaller ones. Companies that used to be publicly owned tend to have lower insider ownership.
With a market capitalization of US$2.4b, Piedmont Office Realty Trust is a decent size, so it is probably on the radar of institutional investors. In the chart below, we can see that institutional investors have bought into the company. We can zoom in on the different ownership groups, to learn more about Piedmont Office Realty Trust.
Check out our latest analysis for Piedmont Office Realty Trust
NYSE:PDM Ownership Breakdown June 22nd 2021
What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Piedmont Office Realty Trust?
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 Piedmont Office Realty Trust. 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 Piedmont Office Realty Trust, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.
Investors should note that institutions actually own more than half the company, so they can collectively wield significant power. Piedmont Office Realty Trust is not owned by hedge funds. The Vanguard Group, Inc. is currently the company’s largest shareholder with 15% of shares outstanding. Meanwhile, the second and third largest shareholders, hold 10% and 4.4%, of the shares outstanding, respectively.
After doing some more digging, we found that the top 11 have the combined ownership of 50% in the company, suggesting that no single shareholder has significant control over the company.
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 Piedmont Office Realty Trust
The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. Management ultimately answers to the board. However, it is not uncommon for managers to be executive board members, especially if they are a founder or the CEO.
Most consider insider ownership a positive because it can indicate the board is well aligned with other shareholders. However, on some occasions too much power is concentrated within this group.
I can report that insiders do own shares in Piedmont Office Realty Trust, Inc.. This is a big company, so it is good to see this level of alignment. Insiders own US$36m worth of shares (at current prices). It is good to see this level of investment by insiders. You can check here to see if those insiders have been buying recently.
General Public Ownership
The general public holds a 13% stake in Piedmont Office Realty Trust. 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. To that end, you should learn about the 4 warning signs we’ve spotted with Piedmont Office Realty Trust (including 2 which are a bit concerning) .
But ultimately it is the future, not the past, that will determine how well the owners of this business will do. Therefore we think it advisable to take a look at this free report showing whether analysts are predicting a brighter 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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