Individual investors who hold 47% of C3.ai, Inc. (NYSE:AI) gained 10%, institutions profited as well

Key Insights

• Significant control over C3.ai by general public implies that this group likely has considerable sway over management and governance-related decisions
• The top 25 shareholders own 47% of the company
• Insiders own 12% of C3.ai

To get a sense of who is truly in control of C3.ai, Inc. (NYSE:AI), it is important to understand the ownership structure of the business. With 47% stake, individual investors possess the maximum shares in the company. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

Following a 10% increase in the stock price last week, individual investors profited the most, but institutions who own 33% stock also stood to gain from the increase.

Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of C3.ai, beginning with the chart below.

See our latest analysis for C3.ai

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About C3.ai?

Institutions typically measure themselves against a benchmark when reporting to their own investors, so they often become more enthusiastic about a stock once it's included in a major index. We would expect most companies to have some institutions on the register, especially if they are growing.

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. If multiple institutions change their view on a stock at the same time, you could see the share price drop fast. It's therefore worth looking at C3.ai's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

Hedge funds don't have many shares in C3.ai. With a 8.5% stake, CEO Thomas Siebel is the largest shareholder. For context, the second largest shareholder holds about 8.2% of the shares outstanding, followed by an ownership of 7.8% by the third-largest shareholder.

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.

While it makes sense to study institutional ownership data for a company, it also makes sense to study analyst sentiments to know which way the wind is blowing. There are a reasonable number of analysts covering the stock, so it might be useful to find out their aggregate view on the future.

Insider Ownership Of C3.ai

While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. Company management run the business, but the CEO will answer to the board, even if he or she is a member of it.

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 most recent data indicates that insiders own a reasonable proportion of C3.ai, Inc.. Insiders own US$162m worth of shares in the US$1.3b company. That's quite meaningful. It is good to see this level of investment. You can check here to see if those insiders have been buying recently.

General Public Ownership

With a 47% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over C3.ai. This size of ownership, while considerable, may not be enough to change company policy if the decision is not in sync with other large shareholders.

Private Company Ownership

We can see that Private Companies own 7.8%, of the shares on issue. It's hard to draw any conclusions from this fact alone, so its worth looking into who owns those private companies. Sometimes insiders or other related parties have an interest in shares in a public company through a separate private company.

Next Steps:

I find it very interesting to look at who exactly owns a company. But to truly gain insight, we need to consider other information, too. For instance, we've identified 2 warning signs for C3.ai that you should be aware of.

If you are like me, you may want to think about whether this company will grow or shrink. Luckily, you can check this free report showing analyst forecasts for its future.

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.