C3.ai Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:AI)

C3.ai, Inc. (NYSE:AI) saw some unusual options trading activity on Friday. Investors acquired 158,384 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 92% compared to the typical volume of 82,329 call options.

C3.ai Stock Up 2.3 %

NYSE:AI traded up $0.51 on Friday, hitting $22.89. The stock had a trading volume of 1,650,301 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,228,263. The stock has a market cap of $3.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.39 and a beta of 2.03. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $28.62 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $29.29. C3.ai has a 1-year low of $18.85 and a 1-year high of $45.08.

C3.ai (NYSE:AI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The company reported ($0.62) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.25) by ($0.37). The company had revenue of $98.78 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $98.12 million. C3.ai had a negative net margin of 79.17% and a negative return on equity of 31.31%. As a group, analysts anticipate that C3.ai will post -2.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently issued reports on AI shares. KeyCorp cut their price objective on shares of C3.ai from $29.00 to $21.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 27th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of C3.ai to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of C3.ai from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $28.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of C3.ai in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, DA Davidson dropped their target price on shares of C3.ai from $40.00 to $25.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $31.33.

Insider Buying and Selling at C3.ai

In other C3.ai news, CEO Thomas M. Siebel sold 409,831 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.97, for a total value of $12,692,466.07. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,756,390 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $54,395,398.30. This trade represents a 18.92 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Merel Witteveen sold 11,132 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.95, for a total transaction of $389,063.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 4,142 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $144,762.90. This represents a 72.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,509,413 shares of company stock worth $43,210,053 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 33.54% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On C3.ai

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. grew its holdings in C3.ai by 100.0% during the 4th quarter. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. now owns 800 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. R Squared Ltd acquired a new position in C3.ai during the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its holdings 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 in the last quarter. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in C3.ai during the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,000. Finally, CENTRAL TRUST Co acquired a new position in C3.ai during the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. 38.96% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

C3.ai Company Profile

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.