C3.ai (NYSE:AI) Shares Gap Down After Earnings Miss

C3.ai, Inc. (NYSE:AI) shares gapped down prior to trading on Thursday after the company announced weaker than expected quarterly earnings. The stock had previously closed at $26.44, but opened at $24.95. C3.ai shares last traded at $24.28, with a volume of 3,244,143 shares traded.

The company reported ($0.62) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.25) by ($0.37). C3.ai had a negative return on equity of 31.31% and a negative net margin of 79.17%. The business had revenue of $98.78 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $98.12 million.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut C3.ai from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $28.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of C3.ai in a research note on Thursday. Northland Securities increased their target price on C3.ai from $35.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on C3.ai from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Finally, KeyCorp cut shares of C3.ai from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $29.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $33.67.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Thomas M. Siebel sold 552,422 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.04, for a total value of $18,252,022.88. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,336,968 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $44,173,422.72. This trade represents a 29.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Stephen M. Ward, Jr. sold 125,000 shares of C3.ai stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.00, for a total value of $5,250,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 546,495 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,952,790. The trade was a 18.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,643,311 shares of company stock valued at $59,736,620 over the last three months. Insiders own 33.54% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On C3.ai

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AI. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. increased its stake in shares of C3.ai by 100.0% in the 4th quarter. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. now owns 800 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its position in C3.ai by 100.7% during the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 909 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 456 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in C3.ai by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 14,078 shares of the company’s stock worth $341,000 after buying an additional 457 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its holdings in C3.ai by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 119,144 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,102,000 after buying an additional 517 shares during the period. Finally, Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in C3.ai by 72.4% during the 4th quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,322 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 555 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 38.96% of the company’s stock.

C3.ai Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $3.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.84 and a beta of 1.98. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $32.88 and a 200-day moving average price of $29.59.

About C3.ai

C3.ai, Inc operates as an enterprise artificial intelligence (AI) software company in North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia Pacific, and internationally. The company provides C3 AI platform, an application development and runtime environment that enables customers to design, develop, and deploy enterprise AI applications; C3 AI Ex Machina for analysis-ready data; C3 AI CRM, an industry specific customer relationship management solution; and C3 Generative AI Product Suite that enables to locate, retrieve, and present information.