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

C3.ai, Inc. (NYSE:AI) saw some unusual options trading activity on Friday. Stock traders purchased 59,346 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 64% compared to the typical daily volume of 36,203 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. DA Davidson reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and set a $7.00 price target on shares of C3.ai in a research note on Thursday, June 4th. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price objective on C3.ai from $8.00 to $10.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 4th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on C3.ai from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, June 4th. Weiss Ratings upgraded C3.ai from a “sell (e+)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Finally, Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $15.00 price target on shares of C3.ai in a research report on Thursday, June 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and six have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $10.09.

Insider Activity at C3.ai

In related news, 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $6,153,178.50. This represents a 7.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CEO Thomas M. Siebel sold 472,005 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.11, for a total transaction 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 $8,025,441.82. The trade was a 39.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 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 1,259,110 shares of company stock worth $13,281,297 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 26.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On C3.ai

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AI. Western Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in C3.ai during the 1st quarter worth $26,000. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of C3.ai by 683.6% in the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,481 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 1,292 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of C3.ai by 66.1% during the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,141 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 852 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of C3.ai by 76.4% during the third quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,849 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 801 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Comerica Bank boosted its holdings in C3.ai by 839.1% during the fourth quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 2,423 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 2,165 shares during the last quarter. 38.96% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

C3.ai Trading Up 1.4%

NYSE AI traded up $0.14 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $10.45. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,079,912 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,096,870. The company has a market capitalization of $1.62 billion, a PE ratio of -3.13 and a beta of 2.08. C3.ai has a 52 week low of $7.68 and a 52 week high of $20.22. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $9.47 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $9.47.

C3.ai (NYSE:AI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, June 3rd. The company reported ($0.33) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.38) by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $51.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $51.60 million. C3.ai had a negative return on equity of 62.44% and a negative net margin of 187.95%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 52.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.16) EPS. Research analysts anticipate that C3.ai will post -2.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.