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

C3.ai, Inc. (NYSE:AI) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Stock investors purchased 119,687 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 57% compared to the typical daily volume of 76,415 call options.

C3.ai Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AI traded down $1.52 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $24.92. 9,114,631 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,991,065. The stock has a market cap of $3.22 billion, a PE ratio of -11.23 and a beta of 1.98. The company’s fifty day moving average is $32.88 and its two-hundred day moving average is $29.59. C3.ai has a fifty-two week low of $18.85 and a fifty-two week high of $45.08.

C3.ai (NYSE:AI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The company reported ($0.62) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.25) by ($0.37). The firm had revenue of $98.78 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $98.12 million. C3.ai had a negative return on equity of 31.31% and a negative net margin of 79.17%. Research analysts forecast that C3.ai will post -2.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AI has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. KeyCorp reduced their price target on shares of C3.ai from $29.00 to $21.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price target on shares of C3.ai from $23.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. DA Davidson upgraded shares of C3.ai to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Northland Securities lifted their target price on shares of C3.ai from $35.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, JMP Securities lifted their target price on shares of C3.ai from $40.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $33.00.

Insider Transactions at C3.ai

In other C3.ai news, CFO Hitesh Lath sold 11,339 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.00, for a total transaction of $476,238.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 851 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $35,742. This represents a 93.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Richard C. Levin sold 12,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.84, for a total transaction of $358,080.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 161,664 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,824,053.76. This represents a 6.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,643,311 shares of company stock worth $59,736,620. Corporate insiders own 33.54% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On C3.ai

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of AI. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. increased its stake in shares of C3.ai by 100.0% during the fourth quarter. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. now owns 800 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the period. R Squared Ltd bought a new position in C3.ai in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its holdings in 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 buying an additional 456 shares during the period. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new position in C3.ai in the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, CENTRAL TRUST Co bought a new position in C3.ai in the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Institutional investors own 38.96% of the company’s stock.

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.