C3.ai Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:AI)

C3.ai, Inc. (NYSE:AI) saw unusually large options trading activity on Friday. Stock traders bought 199,500 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 412% compared to the average daily volume of 38,935 call options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Citizens Jmp reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of C3.ai in a report on Thursday, September 3rd. Wall Street Zen upgraded C3.ai from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, September 13th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of C3.ai from a “sell (e+)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. UBS Group reissued an “underperform” rating on shares of C3.ai in a research report on Tuesday, September 1st. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group restated a “hold” rating and set a $10.00 price objective on shares of C3.ai in a research note on Thursday, September 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and seven have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, C3.ai presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $8.70.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Thomas M. Siebel sold 162,247 shares of C3.ai stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.54, for a total transaction of $1,710,083.38. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 722,362 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,613,695.48. The trade was a 18.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Hitesh Lath sold 21,077 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.48, for a total transaction of $220,886.96. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 371,036 shares in the company, valued at $3,888,457.28. This trade represents a 5.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 1,216,970 shares of company stock valued at $12,628,241. Insiders own 19.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of C3.ai

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in C3.ai in the 2nd quarter worth about $106,000. Engineers Gate Manager LP purchased a new stake in shares of C3.ai in the second quarter valued at approximately $2,855,000. Allworth Financial LP raised its stake in shares of C3.ai by 13.6% during the 2nd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 26,660 shares of the company’s stock worth $242,000 after buying an additional 3,185 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System raised its stake in shares of C3.ai by 3.7% during the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 37,168 shares of the company’s stock worth $338,000 after buying an additional 1,310 shares during the period. Finally, Nykredit A S purchased a new position in shares of C3.ai during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $84,000. 38.96% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

C3.ai Stock Down 2.7%

Shares of AI stock opened at $10.49 on Friday. C3.ai has a 52-week low of $7.68 and a 52-week high of $20.22. The stock has a market cap of $1.63 billion, a PE ratio of -3.41 and a beta of 2.10. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $9.86 and a 200-day simple moving average of $9.48.

C3.ai (NYSE:AI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 2nd. The company reported ($0.20) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.26) by $0.06. C3.ai had a negative return on equity of 61.25% and a negative net margin of 192.10%.The company had revenue of $52.38 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $52.06 million. During the same period last year, the business earned ($0.37) earnings per share. C3.ai’s quarterly revenue was down 25.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that C3.ai will post -2.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About C3.ai

C3.ai, Inc develops enterprise artificial intelligence software and applications for organizations in a range of industries. Its technology is designed to help businesses use data, machine learning and predictive analytics to address operational, financial and strategic challenges.

The company’s offerings include the C3 AI Platform, which provides tools for developing, deploying and operating AI applications, as well as prebuilt applications for use cases such as predictive maintenance, fraud detection, supply-chain optimization, customer engagement, energy management and regulatory compliance.