C3.ai, Inc. (NYSE:AI) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Reduce” from Brokerages

C3.ai, Inc. (NYSE:AI) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Reduce” from the fourteen ratings firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have assigned a hold recommendation, two have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $21.00.

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Canaccord Genuity Group reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $16.00 price target on shares of C3.ai in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of C3.ai in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $20.00 target price on shares of C3.ai in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. DA Davidson reiterated an “underperform” rating and set a $13.00 target price on shares of C3.ai in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. Finally, Bank of America set a $10.00 price target on C3.ai in a report on Friday, January 30th.

C3.ai Trading Down 2.9%

Shares of AI stock opened at $10.39 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $12.73 and a 200 day moving average price of $15.41. C3.ai has a twelve month low of $9.99 and a twelve month high of $30.24. The company has a market capitalization of $1.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.67 and a beta of 1.98.

C3.ai (NYSE:AI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 3rd. The company reported ($0.25) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.33) by $0.08. The company had revenue of $75.15 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $74.86 million. C3.ai had a negative net margin of 108.06% and a negative return on equity of 46.51%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 20.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned ($0.06) EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that C3.ai will post -2.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Hitesh Lath sold 15,042 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $14.38, for a total value of $216,303.96. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 223,120 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,208,465.60. The trade was a 6.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Stephen Bradley Ehikian sold 234,918 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.56, for a total transaction of $3,185,488.08. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 924,074 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,530,443.44. This represents a 20.27% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 1,884,304 shares of company stock valued at $24,970,674. Insiders own 26.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On C3.ai

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Silicon Valley Capital Partners purchased a new position in shares of C3.ai in the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in C3.ai by 683.6% in the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,481 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 1,292 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its position in C3.ai by 66.1% in the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,141 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 852 shares during the period. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of C3.ai by 76.4% during the third quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,849 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 801 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Comerica Bank boosted its position in shares of C3.ai by 839.1% in the fourth quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 2,423 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 2,165 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 38.96% of the company’s stock.

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.