Yahoo Finance Institutions along with retail investors who hold considerable shares inC3.ai, Inc. (NYSE:AI) come under pressure; lose 4.9% of holdings value
Key Insights
The considerable ownership by retail investors in C3.ai indicates that they collectively have a greater say in management and business strategy
A total of 25 investors have a majority stake in the company with 47% ownership
If you want to know who really controls C3.ai, Inc. (NYSE:AI), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. With 45% stake, retail investors possess the maximum shares in the company. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).
While the holdings of retail investors took a hit after last week’s 4.9% price drop, institutions with their 42% holdings also suffered.
Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of C3.ai, beginning with the chart below.
View our latest analysis for C3.ai
What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About C3.ai?
Institutional investors commonly compare their own returns to the returns of a commonly followed index. So they generally do consider buying larger companies that are included in the relevant benchmark index.
C3.ai already has institutions on the share registry. Indeed, they own a respectable stake in the company. This implies the analysts working for those institutions have looked at the stock and they like it. But just like anyone else, they could be wrong. It is not uncommon to see a big share price drop if two large institutional investors try to sell out of a stock at the same time. So it is worth checking the past earnings trajectory of C3.ai, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.
C3.ai is not owned by hedge funds. The company's largest shareholder is The Vanguard Group, Inc., with ownership of 8.5%. Thomas Siebel is the second largest shareholder owning 7.8% of common stock, and BlackRock, Inc. holds about 5.5% of the company stock. Thomas Siebel, who is the second-largest shareholder, also happens to hold the title of Chief Executive Officer.
A deeper look at our ownership data shows that the top 25 shareholders collectively hold less than half of the register, suggesting a large group of small holders where no single shareholder has a majority.
Researching institutional ownership is a good way to gauge and filter a stock's expected performance. The same can be achieved by studying analyst sentiments. There are plenty of analysts covering the stock, so it might be worth seeing what they are forecasting, too.
Insider Ownership Of C3.ai
The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. The company management answer to the board and the latter should represent the interests of shareholders. Notably, sometimes top-level managers are on the board themselves.
Most consider insider ownership a positive because it can indicate the board is well aligned with other shareholders. However, on some occasions too much power is concentrated within this group.
Our information suggests that insiders maintain a significant holding in C3.ai, Inc.. Insiders own US$371m worth of shares in the US$3.4b company. That's quite meaningful. Most would be pleased to see the board is investing alongside them. You may wish to access this free chart showing recent trading by insiders.
General Public Ownership
With a 45% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over C3.ai. 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 C3.ai better, we need to consider many other factors. Case in point: We've spotted 4 warning signs for C3.ai you should be aware of, and 1 of them is significant.
If you would prefer discover what analysts are predicting in terms of future growth, do not miss this free report on analyst forecasts.
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.
