Traders Buy High Volume of Call Options on C3.ai (NYSE:AI)

C3.ai, Inc. (NYSE:AI) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Friday. Stock investors bought 190,828 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 407% compared to the typical volume of 37,636 call options.

C3.ai News Roundup

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.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other C3.ai news, CEO Thomas Siebel sold 472,005 shares of C3.ai stock in a transaction on Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.11, for a total transaction of $5,243,975.55. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 722,362 shares in the company, valued at $8,025,441.82. The trade was a 39.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 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. Also, CFO Hitesh Lath sold 48,619 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.77, for a total transaction of $426,388.63. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 383,106 shares in the company, 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 sold a total of 1,258,650 shares of company stock valued at $13,258,862 over the last ninety days. 26.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On C3.ai

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of AI. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in C3.ai by 267.9% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 181,354 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,788,000 after purchasing an additional 132,056 shares in the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of C3.ai by 48.7% in the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 2,442 shares of the company’s stock valued at $51,000 after buying an additional 800 shares in the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP acquired a new stake in shares of C3.ai in the first quarter valued at $346,000. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its holdings in shares of C3.ai by 4.6% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 242,784 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,111,000 after buying an additional 10,675 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Focus Partners Wealth raised its holdings in shares of C3.ai by 2.6% in the first quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 59,004 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,242,000 after buying an additional 1,503 shares during the last quarter. 38.96% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

C3.ai Stock Down 4.1%

Shares of AI stock opened at $10.45 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.62 billion, a P/E ratio of -3.39 and a beta of 2.10. C3.ai has a 12-month low of $7.68 and a 12-month high of $20.22. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $9.55 and a 200 day moving average price of $9.43.

C3.ai (NYSE:AI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 2nd. The company reported ($0.20) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.26) by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $52.38 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $52.06 million. C3.ai had a negative net margin of 192.10% and a negative return on equity of 60.82%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 25.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.37) earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that C3.ai will post -2.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AI has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Weiss Ratings raised C3.ai from a “sell (e+)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of C3.ai in a report on Thursday. Citigroup restated a “market perform” rating on shares of C3.ai in a research report on Thursday. Citizens Jmp reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of C3.ai in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on C3.ai from $6.00 to $7.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and seven have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average price 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.