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

C3.ai, Inc. (NYSE:AI) saw some unusual options trading on Friday. Traders purchased 199,761 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 403% compared to the average volume of 39,728 call options.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Hitesh Lath sold 21,077 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.48, for a total value of $220,886.96. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 371,036 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,888,457.28. This represents a 5.38% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CEO Thomas M. Siebel sold 453,314 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.51, for a total transaction of $4,764,330.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 722,362 shares in the company, valued at $7,592,024.62. This represents a 38.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 1,573,172 shares of company stock valued at $17,117,621 in the last quarter. 19.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of C3.ai

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Bank of America Corp DE grew its holdings in C3.ai by 55.1% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 3,282,183 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,636,000 after acquiring an additional 1,166,302 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its holdings in C3.ai by 67.3% in the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,215,341 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,233,000 after acquiring an additional 488,710 shares during the period. Edgestream Partners L.P. lifted its holdings in C3.ai by 247.5% in the first quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 658,573 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,545,000 after acquiring an additional 469,057 shares during the period. EVR Research LP boosted its position in shares of C3.ai by 223.8% during the 4th quarter. EVR Research LP now owns 600,400 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,093,000 after purchasing an additional 415,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zweig DiMenna Associates LLC purchased a new stake in shares of C3.ai during the 1st quarter worth $2,686,000. 38.96% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on AI shares. Weiss Ratings upgraded C3.ai from a “sell (e+)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Northland Securities set a $16.00 target price on C3.ai and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 12th. Citizens Jmp restated a “market perform” rating on shares of C3.ai in a research note on Tuesday, September 29th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of C3.ai in a report on Thursday, September 3rd. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of C3.ai from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, October 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and seven have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $9.36.

C3.ai Trading Down 6.9%

Shares of C3.ai stock traded down $0.83 on Friday, reaching $11.32. 9,714,926 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,063,944. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.82 billion, a PE ratio of -3.68 and a beta of 2.11. C3.ai has a 1-year low of $7.68 and a 1-year high of $18.79. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $10.69 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $9.81.

C3.ai (NYSE:AI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 2nd. The company reported ($0.20) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.26) by $0.06. C3.ai had a negative net margin of 192.10% and a negative return on equity of 61.25%. The firm had revenue of $52.38 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $52.06 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($0.37) earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 25.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that C3.ai will post -2.21 EPS for the current year.

About C3.ai

C3.ai, Inc is an enterprise artificial intelligence software company that develops applications and tools designed to help organizations use AI and machine learning to analyze data, automate processes and support business decision-making. The company’s offerings are intended for large commercial enterprises, government agencies and other organizations managing complex operational and data environments.

Its product portfolio includes the C3 AI Platform, which provides capabilities for developing, deploying and operating AI applications, as well as prebuilt enterprise applications.