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

C3.ai, Inc. (NYSE:AI) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Friday. Investors bought 158,384 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 92% compared to the average daily volume of 82,329 call options.

C3.ai Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE:AI opened at $22.65 on Friday. C3.ai has a 12-month low of $18.85 and a 12-month high of $45.08. The company has a market capitalization of $3.01 billion, a PE ratio of -10.25 and a beta of 2.03. The business has a 50 day moving average of $28.42 and a two-hundred day moving average of $29.29.

C3.ai (NYSE:AI) last announced its quarterly 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). C3.ai had a negative net margin of 79.17% and a negative return on equity of 31.31%. The company had revenue of $98.78 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $98.12 million. Equities research analysts predict that C3.ai will post -2.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Merel Witteveen sold 11,132 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.95, for a total transaction of $389,063.40. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 4,142 shares in the company, valued at approximately $144,762.90. The trade was a 72.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Thomas M. Siebel sold 294,116 shares of the business’s 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 943,151 shares in the company, valued at $20,277,746.50. The trade was a 23.77 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,510,546 shares of company stock worth $43,235,262. 33.54% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its stake in shares of C3.ai by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 103,932 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,578,000 after buying an additional 2,442 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in shares of C3.ai by 44.0% during the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 16,180 shares of the company’s stock worth $557,000 after buying an additional 4,941 shares during the period. Probity Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of C3.ai by 10.0% during the 4th quarter. Probity Advisors Inc. now owns 16,706 shares of the company’s stock worth $575,000 after buying an additional 1,514 shares during the period. Total Wealth Planning & Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of C3.ai during the 4th quarter worth approximately $339,000. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp acquired a new position in shares of C3.ai during the 4th quarter worth approximately $229,000. 38.96% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their price target on C3.ai from $40.00 to $30.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on C3.ai from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. StockNews.com upgraded C3.ai to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. DA Davidson dropped their target price on C3.ai from $40.00 to $25.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, JMP Securities upped their target price on C3.ai from $40.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $31.33.

About C3.ai

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.