Wall Street Zen Upgrades C3.ai (NYSE:AI) to “Sell”

C3.ai (NYSE:AI) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “strong sell” rating to a “sell” rating in a report released on Saturday, Wall Street Zen reports.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on AI. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $15.00 target price on shares of C3.ai in a research note on Thursday, June 4th. Weiss Ratings upgraded C3.ai from a “sell (e+)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. UBS Group reissued an “underperform” rating on shares of C3.ai in a report on Tuesday, September 1st. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of C3.ai in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Citigroup restated a “market perform” rating on shares of C3.ai in a report on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and seven have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $8.70.

C3.ai Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of AI opened at $10.45 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $1.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.39 and a beta of 2.10. C3.ai has a twelve month low of $7.68 and a twelve month high of $20.22. The company has a 50 day moving average of $9.55 and a two-hundred day moving average of $9.43.

C3.ai (NYSE:AI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 2nd. The company reported ($0.20) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.26) by $0.06. The business had revenue of $52.38 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $52.06 million. C3.ai had a negative net margin of 192.10% and a negative return on equity of 60.82%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 25.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned ($0.37) earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that C3.ai will post -2.28 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at C3.ai

In related news, CEO Stephen Ehikian sold 50,542 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.45, for a total value of $477,621.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 651,130 shares in the company, valued at $6,153,178.50. This trade represents a 7.20% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CFO Hitesh Lath sold 48,619 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.77, for a total value of $426,388.63. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 383,106 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,359,839.62. This trade represents a 11.26% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 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. Insiders have sold a total of 1,258,650 shares of company stock valued at $13,258,862 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 19.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On C3.ai

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in C3.ai by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,469,953 shares of the company’s stock worth $195,055,000 after buying an additional 108,011 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley raised its position in C3.ai by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,824,499 shares of the company’s stock worth $65,034,000 after buying an additional 91,802 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its stake in C3.ai by 55.1% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 3,282,183 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,636,000 after acquiring an additional 1,166,302 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its stake in C3.ai by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,976,389 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,122,000 after acquiring an additional 94,086 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of C3.ai by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,868,578 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,675,000 after acquiring an additional 21,451 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 38.96% of the company’s stock.

C3.ai News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting C3.ai this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Bookings surged 73% sequentially in fiscal Q1 2027, helped by sales-force restructuring and renewed demand. C3.ai signed 22 new customer agreements, including Ford and several U.S. government agencies, while federal-sector bookings rose 138% year over year. C3.ai Posts 73% Bookings Growth As Free Cash Flow Turns Positive
• Positive Sentiment: Free cash flow returned to positive territory, and the company retains approximately $650 million in cash. That liquidity gives C3.ai additional time to execute its turnaround and pursue enterprise and government opportunities.
• Positive Sentiment: C3.ai reported a quarterly loss of $0.20 per share, better than the expected $0.26 loss, while revenue of $52.38 million modestly exceeded estimates. Seeking Alpha upgraded the stock to Buy, citing stronger bookings and founder Thomas Siebel’s renewed leadership. C3.ai: Early Turnaround Signals Are Here
• Neutral Sentiment: CEO Thomas Siebel sold 16,890 shares worth about $174,000 to cover tax withholding tied to equity vesting. The sale reduced his direct ownership by 2.24%, but its stated purpose makes it a weaker bearish signal than a discretionary insider sale. C3.ai CEO Thomas Siebel Sells Shares
• Negative Sentiment: Revenue fell approximately 25% year over year to $52.4 million, and subscription revenue also declined. Management’s fiscal 2027 revenue outlook of $210 million to $240 million is broadly cautious, while quarterly revenue guidance of $53 million came in below analyst expectations. C3.ai Posts Sales In Line but Guidance Misses Expectations
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst opinion remains unfavorable: Canaccord reiterated Hold with a $10 target, Citizens JMP and Citigroup maintained Market Perform, while DA Davidson and UBS kept Underperform ratings. The reported consensus rating is Reduce, with an average target of $8.70.

About C3.ai

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.