What exactly is an activist investor? An investor interested in acquiring a controlling stake in a target organization by winning seats on the corporation’s board of directors. Activist investors generally are seeking to make substantial changes to the targeted company and/or uncover unrivaled hidden value in the target organization. For Agency , in banking, an activist investor might be interested in owning a significant number of shares of a bank which is currently undergoing financial restructuring.

There have been Agency in the past decade in which shareholders (in general) have taken direct action to change publicly traded companies. In Agency has been viewed negatively by other shareholders. In other instances, however, such shareholder activism has resulted in improved investor confidence in the company. More importantly, shareholder activists have in a sense created a situation in which the larger institutions are forced to respond by exerting greater control over the companies they own. The result is that these changes often result in increased productivity and market share for the smaller companies.

There are a number of standard forms of activist investing that have emerged in recent years. These include the use of stock manipulation techniques, which are used to increase the value of a target company through the reduction of its cost of capitalization, and/or the creation of short-term positions within the stock. Short-term brokerage positions are those adopted by a brokerage firm with the goal of being short-changed by the larger investment firms. When this occurs the brokerage firm must sell its own shares in the target Company. Agency of its own shares typically results in a premium paid to the brokerage firm by the targeted Company.

Other types of activist investor strategies include the utilization of leveraged buyouts and leveraged sales to achieve a price increase in a targeted company’s stock. In the case of leveraged buyouts or an attempt to increase a stock price through the employment of underwriters, the primary motivation is capital allocation. A company’s management may be unwilling to allow other firms to manipulate the price of its stock through transactions like these. By purchasing a large amount of shares at one time and attempting to resell them for a profit on a regular basis, these firms can use savvy buyout tactics and other forms of corporate governance to increase their value and their bottom line.

One of the most common forms of activists is what is known as a Dump Fund. This is a type of investment where large numbers of shareholders usually request that their investments are sold in what is called a Dump Fund. These are usually small to medium-sized institutional investors that are primarily motivated by the desire to avoid the costs and restrictions that would be imposed on them if they tried to attempt to exercise their rights to invest in a particular company. The use of a Dump Fund is highly reserved and is only used when there is a very good reason to do so. Most activists believe that the proper way to accomplish shareholder wealth preservation and increase wealth creation is to use their influence and strategic planning to convince institutional investors that the organization in question poses less of a threat than other companies, thus warrants the purchase of shares.

Another typical form of what is an activist investment include what is called Nasdaq Stock Options and what is commonly referred to as NYSE listed or Pink Sheet stocks. Nasdaq is an electronic exchange where pink sheets and traditional stock exchanges are available to all investors. These stock options allow the holder the right to sell a predetermined number of shares at a set price and in most cases are restricted for trading. However, Nasdaq does have a listing of publicly traded corporations as well as information about individual stock holders.

Activist investing has become more visible over the last decade as more ordinary citizens seek out opportunities to create wealth from the markets. In addition, sophisticated investors and institutions, often consisting of wealthy investors with large families, use what is known as alternative investing strategies to influence corporate governance decisions. This can include using letters of demand and what is known as a proxy vote to force a corporation to change their board of directors, or shareholders, or management. These activist investors do not necessarily have a direct stake in the corporation they are pressuring, but they use their wealth and influence to greatly impact the corporation.

Activist shareholders can also be represented by what is known as social media advocacy groups. These groups use social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter to promote their cause and to spread news about corporate governance and company issues. These groups can help to provide a link between individual investors and corporation issues, which can be especially valuable to activist shareholders that may not otherwise be able to influence major shareholder decision making meetings. Finally, many activist shareholders are also starting to use what is called an exchange traded fund, or ETF, as a vehicle for investing in socially responsible organizations.