First Trust Advisors LP Buys 488,710 Shares of C3.ai, Inc. $AI

Key Points

• First Trust Advisors increased its C3.ai stake by 67.3%, purchasing 488,710 shares in the first quarter and bringing its holdings to 1.22 million shares valued at approximately $10.2 million. Institutional investors collectively own 38.96% of the company.
• C3.ai reported a quarterly loss of $0.33 per share, beating estimates by $0.05, while revenue of $51.6 million fell 52.5% year over year. The stock opened at $9.18, well below its 52-week high of $24.67.
• Analyst sentiment remains cautious, with a consensus “Reduce” rating and a $10.67 target price. Meanwhile, insiders sold 1.16 million shares worth $11.4 million over the past three months, including sales by both CEOs to cover tax obligations.

First Trust Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of C3.ai, Inc. (NYSE:AI - Free Report) by 67.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,215,341 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 488,710 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP owned about 0.84% of C3.ai worth $10,233,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of AI. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in C3.ai by 683.6% during the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,481 shares of the company's stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 1,292 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its stake in C3.ai by 66.1% in the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,141 shares of the company's stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 852 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in C3.ai by 76.4% in the 3rd quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,849 shares of the company's stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 801 shares during the period. Comerica Bank grew its position in shares of C3.ai by 839.1% during the 4th quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 2,423 shares of the company's stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 2,165 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AdvisorNet Financial Inc purchased a new position in shares of C3.ai during the 1st quarter valued at $34,000. 38.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

C3.ai Stock Up 1.2%

AI opened at $9.18 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $1.43 billion, a PE ratio of -2.75 and a beta of 2.06. C3.ai, Inc. has a 52 week low of $7.68 and a 52 week high of $24.67. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $9.60 and its 200 day simple moving average is $9.77.

C3.ai (NYSE:AI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, June 3rd. The company reported ($0.33) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.38) by $0.05. C3.ai had a negative return on equity of 62.44% and a negative net margin of 187.95%.The firm had revenue of $51.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $51.60 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($0.16) earnings per share. The company's revenue was down 52.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that C3.ai, Inc. will post -2.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at C3.ai

In other news, CEO Thomas M. Siebel sold 472,005 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.11, for a total value of $5,243,975.55. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 722,362 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,025,441.82. This represents a 39.52% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CEO Stephen Bradley Ehikian sold 50,542 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.45, for a total transaction of $477,621.90. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 651,130 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,153,178.50. This represents a 7.20% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. In the last three months, insiders have sold 1,155,144 shares of company stock valued at $11,420,651. Corporate insiders own 26.50% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on AI shares. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of C3.ai from $6.00 to $7.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Thursday, June 4th. Wedbush reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $15.00 price objective on shares of C3.ai in a research note on Thursday, June 4th. Needham & Company LLC restated a "hold" rating on shares of C3.ai in a research report on Thursday, June 4th. Weiss Ratings lowered C3.ai from a "sell (d-)" rating to a "sell (e+)" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 16th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on C3.ai from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, June 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and six have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Reduce" and a consensus target price of $10.67.

C3.ai Profile

C3.ai, Inc is a leading enterprise software provider focused on delivering scalable artificial intelligence (AI) and Internet of Things (IoT) solutions to large organizations. The company's core offering, the C3 AI Suite, is a comprehensive, model-driven platform that unifies data ingestion, model development, and application deployment. Through its suite of tools, C3.ai enables customers to accelerate digital transformation initiatives by applying advanced machine learning, predictive analytics, and AI-driven insights across a broad range of business functions.

The C3 AI Suite provides a low-code environment for data scientists and application developers to rapidly design, test, and deploy enterprise-scale AI applications.

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