Exploring KNOT Offshore Partners LP (KNOP) Investor Profile: Who’s Buying and Why?

You're looking at KNOT Offshore Partners LP (KNOP) right now and asking the obvious question: is the recent run-up driven by fundamentals or just the buyout chatter? Honestly, it's a mix, but the institutional money is defintely leaning into the stability of the core business, even as the stock price has surged over 58.09% from November 2024 to November 2025. We've seen major players like Invesco Ltd. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. hold significant positions, as institutions collectively own around 21.06% of the shares outstanding, so it's not just retail speculation. The shuttle tanker fleet generates robust cash flow, posting $87.1 million in revenue for Q2 2025, plus they declared a Q3 2025 cash distribution of $0.026 per common unit. But the real pivot is the November 2025 buyout offer from Knutsen NYK Offshore Tankers AS, which re-prices the risk for everyone. The question is whether investors are buying the long-term, stable charter contracts in Brazil and the North Sea, or if they're just chasing the final premium from the parent company's take-private bid. Let's dig into who's actually buying and what their endgame is.

Who Invests in KNOT Offshore Partners LP (KNOP) and Why?

You're looking at KNOT Offshore Partners LP (KNOP) and trying to figure out who else is buying in, and more importantly, why their money is flowing into this specialized shipping play. The direct takeaway is that KNOP's investor base is a roughly even split between institutional money, insiders, and retail, all drawn by the stability of long-term, fixed-rate contracts in a niche market.

Unlike a volatile Master Limited Partnership (MLP) exposed to spot commodity prices, KNOP's structure and business model-shuttle tankers on long-term charters-attracts investors seeking predictable cash flows and a modest, sustainable distribution (dividend). That's the key difference here: stability over high-octane growth.

Key Investor Types: The Ownership Breakdown

The ownership profile of KNOT Offshore Partners LP in 2025 shows a balanced mix, which is typical for a specialized shipping entity with a steady income stream. Based on recent filings, the institutional stake is significant, but not overwhelming, leaving a large portion for insiders and retail investors.

As of late 2025, institutional investors-the mutual funds, pension funds, and asset managers-hold approximately 28.7% of the common units. This group includes major players like Invesco Ltd., Morgan Stanley, and JPMorgan Chase & Co. Insider ownership, which includes executives and the parent company, Knutsen NYK Offshore Tankers AS, is also substantial at around 28.38%. This high insider alignment can be a good sign, showing management has skin in the game.

Here's the quick math on the rest: Subtracting institutional and insider holdings from 100% suggests that retail investors and other non-13F filers account for roughly 42.92% of the ownership. This substantial retail presence is often attracted to the distribution-paying nature of the partnership's units.

• Institutional: 28.7%-Seeking stable infrastructure exposure.
• Insiders: 28.38%-High management alignment.
• Retail/Other: ~42.92%-Drawn by income potential.

Investment Motivations: Stability and Niche Market Dominance

The core attraction to KNOT Offshore Partners LP isn't a massive growth story; it's a story about defensive positioning and consistent income. The company's fleet of shuttle tankers operates primarily in the offshore oil production regions of Brazil and the North Sea, transporting oil from floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) units to onshore terminals.

The motivations break down into three concrete areas:

• Stable Cash Flow: KNOP's vessels are on long-term, fixed-rate term charters with high-quality counterparties like Equinor and Shell. This means revenue is predictable and has no direct exposure to volatile commodity prices. For a portfolio manager, this is a defintely a reliable anchor.
• Sustainable Distributions: While the dividend yield is modest at approximately 1.06% as of late 2025, the annualized distribution of about $0.10 per common unit is highly sustainable, with a payout ratio of only about 13.3%. This low payout ratio signals that the company retains significant cash flow for fleet maintenance and accretive growth.
• High Barriers to Entry: The shuttle tanker market is highly specialized, requiring complex DP2 (Dynamic Positioning) technology and expert crews. This limits speculative competition and helps maintain the company's leading market share in the segment.

Investment Strategies: Income, Value, and Active Management

The nature of KNOP's business dictates the strategies its investors employ. You see a mix of long-term income seekers and active managers looking to capitalize on perceived undervaluation.

1. Long-Term Income and Value Investing:

This is the most common strategy. Investors treat KNOP as a value-oriented infrastructure play, not a cyclical shipping stock. They focus on the predictable revenue stream and the low payout ratio, which suggests the distribution is safe and the company has capital for fleet renewal or expansion. The value proposition is simple: a stable asset base generating reliable cash flow, often trading at a discount to the net asset value (NAV) of its fleet.

2. Active Management and Hedge Fund Strategies:

Hedge funds and active managers, including those like 683 Capital Management, are often involved for two reasons. First, they may see the stock as a pure-play on the tightening shuttle tanker market in Brazil and the North Sea, which management has highlighted as an opportunity. Second, the company's recent strategic actions, like the $10 million unit buyback program initiated in Q2 2025, are a clear signal that management believes the units are undervalued, which attracts capital looking for a catalyst.

Here is a snapshot of the company's financial performance that underpins these strategies:

The high utilization rate and solid liquidity are what allow long-term investors to sleep well. If you want to dive deeper into the strategic direction that supports this investor thesis, you can review the Mission Statement, Vision, & Core Values of KNOT Offshore Partners LP (KNOP).

Next Step: Finance: Model a Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) valuation using the Q2 2025 revenue and operating income figures, focusing on the stability of the long-term charter revenue stream to determine a fair NAV by end of next week.

Institutional Ownership and Major Shareholders of KNOT Offshore Partners LP (KNOP)

If you are looking at KNOT Offshore Partners LP (KNOP), you are defintely looking at a company where institutional money holds a significant, but not dominant, position. As of the latest filings for the 2025 fiscal year, institutional investors own approximately 28.7% of the partnership, controlling about 9.1 million common units. This is a Master Limited Partnership (MLP) in the Oil & Gas Midstream sector, and the ownership structure reflects the typical mix of energy-focused funds and quantitative players.

The largest shareholders are a mix of specialized investment managers and major financial institutions. Understanding who holds the most units tells you a lot about the investment thesis-these are primarily funds seeking income and exposure to the shuttle tanker market, which you can read more about here: KNOT Offshore Partners LP (KNOP): History, Ownership, Mission, How It Works & Makes Money. The top five institutional holders alone account for a substantial chunk of the institutional float.

• Invesco Ltd.: Largest holder, often through its MLP-focused funds.
• 683 Capital Management, LLC: A significant hedge fund presence.
• Renaissance Technologies Llc: Known for its quantitative, systematic trading strategies.
• Morgan Stanley: A major global bank holding a large position.
• JPMorgan Chase & Co.: Another major bank with a substantial stake.

Top Institutional Investors and Their Shareholdings (Q3 2025)

The most recent 13F filings, covering the third quarter ending September 30, 2025, show the following snapshot of the largest positions. Remember, these filings are a rearview mirror, but they show the scale of conviction.

Here's the quick math: the total value of institutional holdings reported for the Q3 2025 period was over $71.5 million. That's a lot of money betting on the stability of the long-term charter contracts that underpin KNOP's business model.

Recent Shifts: Are Institutions Buying or Selling?

The recent trend is a nuanced picture of both significant buying and selling, which is common when a stock is undergoing a major strategic shift. Over the last quarter, institutions bought an estimated 7.9 million shares while selling about 1.9 million shares. That net buying activity is a strong vote of confidence, but the quarter-end filings show a more mixed bag of position adjustments.

Looking specifically at the Q3 2025 data, we saw 247,636 shares added via increased positions, but 453,346 shares sold via decreased positions. This tells me that while the overall institutional ownership percentage is high, the active money managers are re-evaluating their stakes. You see some major institutions like 683 Capital and JPMorgan Chase trimming their positions by over 7%, while others, like Morgan Stanley, slightly increased theirs. The total number of institutions reporting a position was 47 as of November 2025.

The institutional ownership percentage has been relatively stable, hovering around 28% through 2025. This stability suggests that the core long-term investors are holding firm, but the shorter-term, quantitative funds are actively trading around the stock's volatility. It's a tug-of-war between income investors and event-driven traders.

Impact of Institutional Investors on Strategy and Stock Price

Institutional investors play a critical role in KNOP, especially given the recent strategic developments. Their sheer size means their collective actions directly influence the stock price. When a fund like Renaissance Technologies, known for its rapid, high-volume trading, adjusts its position, it can create noticeable short-term price movements.

More importantly, these large holders have a say in major corporate actions. The most crucial recent event is the buyout offer from Knutsen NYK Offshore Tankers AS announced in November 2025. This is where institutional influence peaks. Passive investors (those filing a Schedule 13G) may simply accept the offer, but active investors (those filing a Schedule 13D, indicating an intent to influence strategy) will scrutinize the offer price and terms.

If the institutional base believes the offer undervalues the partnership's fleet and long-term charter revenue, they can-and often do-push back, demanding a higher price. Their collective power can be the difference between a quick, low-premium sale and a higher, negotiated exit. Their current stability suggests a belief in the underlying value, so any low-ball offer would likely face stiff resistance. They are the ultimate backstop against a cheap sale.

Key Investors and Their Impact on KNOT Offshore Partners LP (KNOP)

If you're looking at KNOT Offshore Partners LP (KNOP), you need to understand who is defintely buying and selling the stock, and why. The investor profile for KNOP is a bit unique. While institutional money is certainly present, the vast majority of the company, roughly 77.90%, is held by retail investors. This means the stock can sometimes move a little differently than a mega-cap where institutional investors dominate the float (the shares available for trading).

Institutional ownership sits around the 22.10% to 28.7% mark, which is significant but not overwhelming. The key players here are large, established funds who view KNOP as a stable, yield-generating asset, given its long-term charters for shuttle tankers. That's the core of the investment thesis: predictable cash flow from contracts with oil majors like Equinor and Shell.

The Notable Institutional Holders and Their Recent Moves

The largest institutional holders are a mix of asset managers and quantitative funds. As of the Q3 2025 filings (September 30, 2025), Invesco Ltd. remains the single largest holder, controlling 1,776,804 shares, which represents about 5.22% of the company. That stake was valued at approximately $17.47 million.

What's more interesting than the static holdings are the recent shifts. We saw some major funds trimming their positions in Q3 2025, while others initiated new stakes. This tells you a story about differing views on the near-term outlook, particularly around capital structure and the dividend. For instance, American Beacon Advisors, Inc. was a new entrant, buying 178,307 shares.

Here is a quick look at the top institutional holders and their Q3 2025 activity:

The Overriding Influence: The Buyout Offer

Forget the small quarterly moves; the single most impactful investor action in 2025 is the buyout offer. On November 3, 2025, Knutsen NYK Offshore Tankers AS (KNUT), the Partnership's sponsor, announced a buyout offer for KNOT Offshore Partners LP. This isn't an activist demanding a change; it's the sponsor looking to take the company private. This move instantly shifts the investment focus from long-term distribution yield to a short-term, event-driven return based on the final offer price and the probability of the deal closing.

The sponsor's influence is paramount here because they control the General Partner and have a significant insider ownership stake, reported to be around 28.38%. Their decision to offer a buyout is what's driving the stock price now, not the Q2 2025 net income of $6.8 million or the $0.026 per common unit quarterly cash distribution declared in October 2025.

The market's reaction to this offer is the clearest indication of investor sentiment. Investors are now weighing:

• The final cash value of the buyout.
• The likelihood of a higher offer from the sponsor.
• The risk of the deal collapsing entirely.

This is a classic merger arbitrage scenario now. You can find more details on the Partnership's strategic direction, which informs the sponsor's decision, in the Mission Statement, Vision, & Core Values of KNOT Offshore Partners LP (KNOP).

Investor Influence on Strategic Direction

The institutional investors, while a minority in terms of total units, still play a role by engaging with management and the board on governance and financial strategy, especially regarding the capital structure. The company's focus on securing long-term charters, which led to Q2 2025 revenues of $87.1 million, is a strategy that appeals to these long-term institutional holders.

Still, the most direct influence from a non-sponsor entity recently came from the board level. In October 2025, the Board nominated Pernille Østensjø to serve as an Independent Director. Her background in financial management is a clear signal to investors that the board is focused on strengthening financial oversight, which is crucial during a period of high-profile strategic review like a buyout. The board is trying to show they're looking out for all unitholders, which is a key concern for the institutional minority in a sponsor-led transaction.

Market Impact and Investor Sentiment

You are looking at KNOT Offshore Partners LP (KNOP) right now, and the entire investor profile is centered on one thing: the unsolicited, non-binding takeover proposal from Knutsen NYK Offshore Tankers AS. This single event has completely reshaped the near-term sentiment, moving the conversation from stable, long-term cash flow to a binary bet on the acquisition price.

The current sentiment among major shareholders is defintely mixed, leaning toward a cautious Hold. Institutional ownership sits at approximately 28.7% of the common units. These large holders, including firms like JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Millennium Management LLC, are now weighing the guaranteed cash offer of $10 per unit against the partnership's underlying value and future distribution potential.

Honesty, the takeover bid acts as a floor, limiting downside, but it also caps the immediate upside. That's the simple math.

Recent Market Reactions to Ownership Shifts

The market's reaction to the takeover proposal has been the most significant price driver in late 2025. The stock price has gravitated toward the offer price, a classic arbitrage play. Earlier in the year, KNOT Offshore Partners LP units had already been surging, up 19.81% year-to-date through April 25, 2025, significantly outpacing the S&P 500.

When the offer was announced, the unit price adjusted, but the stock has remained resilient, closing at $9.99 on November 21, 2025, a slight gain of 1.32% on that day alone. This movement shows that the market is pricing in a high probability of the deal closing near the proposed cash consideration. Plus, the partnership's defensive operational model-long-term charters with major oil producers-provides a stable revenue base that supports the valuation, even amidst broader energy market headwinds.

Key institutional trading activity in November 2025 shows some firms, like Susquehanna International Group LLP and Millennium Management LLC, reducing their positions, likely locking in gains or reducing risk associated with the deal's uncertainty.

• Stock up 19.81% YTD through April 2025.
• Takeover offer of $10 per unit sets a pricing floor.
• Latest trading price (Nov 21, 2025) was $9.99.

Analyst Perspectives on Key Investor Impact

The analyst community is split, reflecting the uncertainty of the acquisition process, but they agree the primary investor impact is now tied to the parent company's future vision. The consensus rating among Wall Street analysts is currently a Hold. The average 12-month price target is approximately $10.67, with a low estimate of $10, directly aligning with the takeover price.

Analysts who are more bullish point to the partnership's strong operational performance in 2025. For the second quarter of 2025, KNOT Offshore Partners LP reported total revenues of $87.1 million, net income of $6.8 million, and Adjusted EBITDA of $51.6 million. The fleet utilization rate was nearly 97%, which is excellent. This operational strength suggests the partnership is worth more than the bid price, which is why some analysts still maintain a target slightly above $10.

But, to be fair, the bearish view focuses on the potential for reduced future distributions and governance changes if the parent company takes full control. The recent analyst price target was lowered from around $12 to $10, reflecting these revised expectations. You can see more about the foundation of this business model in KNOT Offshore Partners LP (KNOP): History, Ownership, Mission, How It Works & Makes Money.

Here's a quick snapshot of the financial strength underpinning the debate:

What this estimate hides is the true value of the shuttle tanker market tightening in Brazil and the North Sea, which could drive charter rates higher than currently modeled, but the takeover limits your ability to capitalize on that as a public unitholder.

Your next step: Review the latest SEC filings for any updates on the Special Committee's response to the $10 per unit offer.