Blaize (NASDAQ:BZAI) Cut to Sell at Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen downgraded Blaize from a "hold" to a "sell" in a note to investors, signaling increased skepticism about the stock.
• Despite that downgrade, analysts collectively maintain a "Moderate Buy" consensus with a consensus target price of $6.50, while individual price targets recently ranged from $5.00 (B. Riley) to $6.00 (Rosenblatt) and Zacks issued a "strong-buy".
• Company insiders have been selling: executives sold a total of 223,460 shares worth about $496,000 over the last quarter (including the CFO and CEO under Rule 10b5-1 plans), reducing their holdings.

Blaize (NASDAQ:BZAI - Get Free Report) was downgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a note issued to investors on Saturday.

Several other equities analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. B. Riley Financial reduced their price objective on shares of Blaize from $8.00 to $5.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 25th. Zacks Research raised shares of Blaize from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, March 30th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a "buy" rating and set a $6.00 price objective on shares of Blaize in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a "sell (e+)" rating on shares of Blaize in a research note on Friday, March 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $6.50.

Blaize Stock Performance

Shares of BZAI opened at $2.01 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $246.73 million and a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.93. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $1.50 and its 200 day simple moving average is $2.27. Blaize has a 1 year low of $1.00 and a 1 year high of $6.76.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Blaize news, CFO Harminder Sehmi sold 123,460 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $2.28, for a total transaction of $281,488.80. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 381,600 shares of the company's stock, valued at $870,048. This trade represents a 24.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Dinakar Munagala sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $2.54, for a total transaction of $127,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 551,422 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,400,611.88. This represents a 8.31% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 223,460 shares of company stock valued at $495,989 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 17.40% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Blaize

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Blaize by 0.5% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 655,679 shares of the company's stock worth $1,955,000 after purchasing an additional 3,031 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new position in Blaize during the third quarter worth approximately $26,000. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blaize in the 3rd quarter valued at $42,000. ProShare Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blaize in the 3rd quarter valued at $43,000. Finally, Voya Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Blaize in the 3rd quarter valued at $44,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.12% of the company's stock.

Blaize Company Profile

Blaize NASDAQ: BZAI is a fabless semiconductor company that designs and develops hardware and software solutions for artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning applications at the edge. The company’s core technology is centered on its proprietary Graph Streaming Processor (GSP) architecture, which combines dataflow computing with a highly parallel matrix processing engine to deliver real-time AI inference with low power consumption. Blaize’s platform is aimed at customers seeking to deploy sophisticated AI workloads in environments where power efficiency, latency and form factor are critical.

The company offers a hardware portfolio that includes standalone GSP modules, PCIe cards and M.2 form-factor boards, alongside its Blaize AI software stack.

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