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

C3.ai, Inc. (NYSE:AI) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Investors purchased 92,737 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 77% compared to the average volume of 52,435 call options.

C3.ai Stock Down 9.1%

AI opened at $8.54 on Friday. C3.ai has a 52-week low of $7.68 and a 52-week high of $30.24. The company has a 50 day moving average of $9.05 and a two-hundred day moving average of $12.75. The company has a market cap of $1.24 billion, a P/E ratio of -2.71 and a beta of 2.08.

C3.ai (NYSE:AI) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The company reported ($0.40) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.29) by ($0.11). The business had revenue of $53.26 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $75.91 million. C3.ai had a negative net margin of 141.35% and a negative return on equity of 55.40%. The business’s revenue was down 46.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.12) EPS. Research analysts anticipate that C3.ai will post -3.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Chairman Thomas M. Siebel sold 165,278 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.49, for a total transaction of $1,403,210.22. Following the sale, the chairman owned 722,362 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,132,853.38. This trade represents a 18.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Hitesh Lath sold 15,248 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.98, for a total transaction of $136,927.04. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 238,308 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,140,005.84. This trade represents a 6.01% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 1,623,178 shares of company stock worth $15,560,098 in the last three months. 26.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On C3.ai

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Inspire Investing LLC acquired a new position in shares of C3.ai during the 1st quarter valued at $515,000. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lifted its holdings in shares of C3.ai by 21.4% during the 1st quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 20,594 shares of the company’s stock valued at $173,000 after acquiring an additional 3,637 shares in the last quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc acquired a new position in shares of C3.ai during the 1st quarter valued at $34,000. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in shares of C3.ai by 6.0% during the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 407,598 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,432,000 after acquiring an additional 23,112 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its holdings in shares of C3.ai by 200.2% during the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 109,875 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,482,000 after acquiring an additional 73,276 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 38.96% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of C3.ai in a research note on Monday. Canaccord Genuity Group cut their price target on shares of C3.ai from $16.00 to $7.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Wolfe Research reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and set a $6.00 price target on shares of C3.ai in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Wedbush cut their price target on shares of C3.ai from $20.00 to $15.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a “reduce” rating on shares of C3.ai in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and six have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $15.87.

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.