To get a sense of who is truly in control of Diamond Offshore Drilling, Inc. (NYSE:DO), it is important to understand the ownership structure of the business. With 72% stake, institutions possess the maximum shares in the company. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

Clearly, institutional investors benefitted the most after the company's market cap rose by US$63m last week.

In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of Diamond Offshore Drilling.

See our latest analysis for Diamond Offshore Drilling

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Diamond Offshore Drilling?

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.

Diamond Offshore Drilling already has institutions on the share registry. Indeed, they own a respectable stake in the company. 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. If multiple institutions change their view on a stock at the same time, you could see the share price drop fast. It's therefore worth looking at Diamond Offshore Drilling's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

Institutional investors own over 50% of the company, so together than can probably strongly influence board decisions. Our data indicates that hedge funds own 6.4% of Diamond Offshore Drilling. That catches my attention because hedge funds sometimes try to influence management, or bring about changes that will create near term value for shareholders. Contrarius Investment Management Limited is currently the largest shareholder, with 8.9% of shares outstanding. Samuel Terry Asset Management Pty Ltd is the second largest shareholder owning 7.7% of common stock, and BlackRock, Inc. holds about 7.1% of the company stock. In addition, we found that Bernie Wolford, the CEO has 0.5% of the shares allocated to their name.

On further inspection, we found that more than half the company's shares are owned by the top 9 shareholders, suggesting that the interests of the larger shareholders are balanced out to an extent by the smaller ones.

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. While there is some analyst coverage, the company is probably not widely covered. So it could gain more attention, down the track.

Insider Ownership Of Diamond Offshore Drilling

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.

Insider ownership is positive when it signals leadership are thinking like the true owners of the company. However, high insider ownership can also give immense power to a small group within the company. This can be negative in some circumstances.

Our data suggests that insiders own under 1% of Diamond Offshore Drilling, Inc. in their own names. It has a market capitalization of just US$865m, and the board has only US$5.0m worth of shares in their own names. We generally like to see a board more invested. However it might be worth checking if those insiders have been buying.

General Public Ownership

With a 21% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Diamond Offshore Drilling. 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:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Diamond Offshore Drilling better, we need to consider many other factors.

I like to dive deeper into how a company has performed in the past. You can find historic revenue and earnings in this detailed graph.

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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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.