SoundHound AI Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NASDAQ:SOUN)

SoundHound AI, Inc. (NASDAQ:SOUN) saw unusually large options trading on Friday. Traders acquired 145,384 call options on the company. This is an increase of 115% compared to the typical volume of 67,482 call options.

SoundHound AI Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ SOUN traded up $1.40 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $9.36. 55,384,600 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 26,823,572. The company’s 50 day moving average is $7.49 and its 200 day moving average is $10.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.96 billion, a P/E ratio of -187.98 and a beta of 2.71. SoundHound AI has a one year low of $5.83 and a one year high of $22.17.

SoundHound AI (NASDAQ:SOUN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported ($0.02) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of ($0.02). The business had revenue of $55.06 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $53.88 million. SoundHound AI had a negative net margin of 8.71% and a negative return on equity of 3.63%. SoundHound AI’s quarterly revenue was up 59.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.05) EPS. Research analysts anticipate that SoundHound AI will post -0.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of SoundHound AI in a research report on Friday, January 9th. Zacks Research raised shares of SoundHound AI from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 9th. HC Wainwright decreased their target price on shares of SoundHound AI from $26.00 to $20.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $9.00 target price (down from $11.00) on shares of SoundHound AI in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Finally, DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $14.00 target price on shares of SoundHound AI in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, SoundHound AI has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $14.93.

Insider Activity at SoundHound AI

In other SoundHound AI news, COO Michael Zagorsek sold 52,968 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.79, for a total value of $359,652.72. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 1,734,491 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,777,193.89. The trade was a 2.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Nitesh Sharan sold 44,027 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.79, for a total transaction of $298,943.33. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 1,661,121 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,279,011.59. This represents a 2.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders sold 307,973 shares of company stock worth $2,091,110. 8.84% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of SoundHound AI

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Danske Bank A S bought a new stake in shares of SoundHound AI during the 3rd quarter worth $26,000. Financial Consulate Inc. bought a new stake in shares of SoundHound AI during the 3rd quarter worth $32,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its holdings in SoundHound AI by 83.1% in the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 2,336 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 1,060 shares during the period. Dogwood Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in SoundHound AI by 152.1% in the 4th quarter. Dogwood Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,559 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 1,544 shares during the period. Finally, SHP Wealth Management bought a new stake in SoundHound AI in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. 19.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About SoundHound AI

SoundHound AI, Inc is a voice AI and conversational intelligence company specializing in speech recognition, natural language understanding and sound identification technologies. Founded in 2005 and headquartered in Santa Clara, California, the company initially gained recognition with its music discovery app before pivoting to enterprise-grade voice AI solutions. Over the years, SoundHound AI has built a comprehensive platform that enables developers and businesses to embed conversational intelligence into a wide range of products and services.

The company’s core offering is the Houndify voice AI platform, which provides customizable speech-to-meaning technology, domain-specific natural language understanding and text-to-speech capabilities.