C3.ai (NYSE:AI) Shares Down 1.9% - Here's What Happened

Key Points

• C3.ai shares fell by 1.9% to close at $16.98, with trading volume decreasing by 70% compared to the average daily volume.
• Westpark Capital upgraded C3.ai to a "strong-buy" rating with a price target of $40.00, while overall ratings include one strong buy, two buy, eight hold, and five sell.
• C3.ai reported a revenue increase of 25.5% year-over-year, with an earnings per share (EPS) of ($0.16), beating estimates and highlighting a negative net margin of 74.21%.

Shares of C3.ai, Inc. (NYSE:AI - Get Free Report) were down 1.9% on Friday . The company traded as low as $16.86 and last traded at $16.98. Approximately 1,815,202 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 70% from the average daily volume of 6,034,307 shares. The stock had previously closed at $17.31.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on AI shares. Westpark Capital upgraded shares of C3.ai to a "strong-buy" rating and set a $40.00 price target on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. KeyCorp reiterated a "mixed" rating on shares of C3.ai in a report on Thursday, May 29th. Northland Capmk cut shares of C3.ai from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, August 11th. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of C3.ai from $28.00 to $27.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of C3.ai from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and five have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, C3.ai has a consensus rating of "Reduce" and an average target price of $27.43.

C3.ai Stock Performance

The business's 50 day moving average price is $23.15 and its 200 day moving average price is $23.34. The firm has a market cap of $2.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.55 and a beta of 1.98.

C3.ai (NYSE:AI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 28th. The company reported ($0.16) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.20) by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $108.72 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $107.85 million. C3.ai had a negative net margin of 74.21% and a negative return on equity of 33.51%. C3.ai's revenue was up 25.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.11) EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that C3.ai, Inc. will post -2.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at C3.ai

In other C3.ai news, CFO Hitesh Lath sold 17,689 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.96, for a total transaction of $441,517.44. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 166,218 shares in the company, valued at $4,148,801.28. This represents a 9.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Merel Witteveen sold 5,485 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.95, for a total transaction of $131,365.75. Following the sale, the vice president owned 13,740 shares in the company, valued at $329,073. This trade represents a 28.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 2,168,568 shares of company stock valued at $50,846,936 over the last three months. 26.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On C3.ai

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of AI. Garde Capital Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of C3.ai in the first quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Orion Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of C3.ai during the fourth quarter worth approximately $34,000. CX Institutional purchased a new stake in shares of C3.ai during the first quarter worth approximately $34,000. Raiffeisen Bank International AG purchased a new stake in shares of C3.ai during the fourth quarter worth approximately $36,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc raised its stake in shares of C3.ai by 417.5% during the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,868 shares of the company's stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 1,507 shares during the last quarter. 38.96% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.

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