With 78% ownership, Dominion Energy, Inc. (NYSE:D) boasts of strong institutional backing

Simply Wall St · 6d ago

Key Insights

  • Given the large stake in the stock by institutions, Dominion Energy's stock price might be vulnerable to their trading decisions
  • The top 17 shareholders own 50% of the company
  • 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 Dominion Energy, Inc. (NYSE:D), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are institutions with 78% ownership. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

Given the vast amount of money and research capacities at their disposal, institutional ownership tends to carry a lot of weight, especially with individual investors. As a result, a sizeable amount of institutional money invested in a firm is generally viewed as a positive attribute.

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

View our latest analysis for Dominion Energy

ownership-breakdown
NYSE:D Ownership Breakdown January 7th 2025

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Dominion 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 the register, especially if they are growing.

We can see that Dominion Energy does have institutional investors; and they hold a good portion of the company's stock. This suggests some credibility amongst professional investors. But we can't rely on that fact alone since institutions make bad investments sometimes, just like everyone does. 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 Dominion Energy's historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.

earnings-and-revenue-growth
NYSE:D Earnings and Revenue Growth January 7th 2025

Investors should note that institutions actually own more than half the company, so they can collectively wield significant power. Dominion Energy is not owned by hedge funds. Our data shows that The Vanguard Group, Inc. is the largest shareholder with 11% of shares outstanding. For context, the second largest shareholder holds about 7.9% of the shares outstanding, followed by an ownership of 5.3% by the third-largest shareholder.

A closer look at our ownership figures suggests that the top 17 shareholders have a combined ownership of 50% implying that no single shareholder has a majority.

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. Quite a few analysts cover the stock, so you could look into forecast growth quite easily.

Insider Ownership Of Dominion Energy

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

Our information suggests that Dominion Energy, Inc. insiders own under 1% of the company. As it is a large company, we'd only expect insiders to own a small percentage of it. But it's worth noting that they own US$46m worth of shares. Arguably recent buying and selling is just as important to consider. You can click here to see if insiders have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

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

Next Steps:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Dominion Energy better, we need to consider many other factors. To that end, you should learn about the 3 warning signs we've spotted with Dominion Energy (including 2 which are a bit unpleasant) .

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.