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

C3.ai, Inc. (NYSE:AI) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Friday. Stock traders bought 158,384 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 92% compared to the average daily volume of 82,329 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on AI. StockNews.com upgraded shares of C3.ai to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on C3.ai from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Northland Securities lifted their price target on C3.ai from $35.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of C3.ai in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on C3.ai from $42.00 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Five 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 given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, C3.ai has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $31.33.

C3.ai Price Performance

Shares of C3.ai stock opened at $22.65 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.25 and a beta of 2.03. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $28.42 and a 200-day simple moving average of $29.33. C3.ai has a 52-week low of $18.85 and a 52-week high of $45.08.

C3.ai (NYSE:AI) last posted its 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 business had revenue of $98.78 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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, equities research analysts predict that C3.ai will post -2.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at C3.ai

In related news, CEO Thomas M. Siebel sold 294,116 shares of C3.ai stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.50, for a total value of $6,323,494.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 943,151 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,277,746.50. This trade represents a 23.77 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Merel Witteveen sold 1,133 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.25, for a total value of $25,209.25. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 7,287 shares in the company, valued at approximately $162,135.75. The trade was a 13.46 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,510,546 shares of company stock valued at $43,235,262 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 33.54% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On C3.ai

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of AI. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. raised its holdings in C3.ai by 100.0% during the fourth quarter. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. now owns 800 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. R Squared Ltd acquired a new position in shares of C3.ai during the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its stake in shares of C3.ai by 100.7% in the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 909 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 456 shares in the last quarter. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in C3.ai in the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,000. Finally, CENTRAL TRUST Co bought a new stake in C3.ai during the fourth quarter worth approximately $34,000. 38.96% of the stock is currently owned by 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.