C3.ai (NYSE:AI) Shares Down 8.9% - Here's What Happened

Key Points

• Shares fell 8.9% on Friday to about $11.17 (intraday low $11.53) on light volume of ~1.29M shares, roughly 79% below the stock's average daily volume.
• C3.ai slightly beat the quarter (EPS -$0.25 vs. -$0.33; revenue $75.15M vs. $74.86M) but revenue was down 20.3% year‑over‑year and the company reported a deeply negative net margin (-108%) and negative ROE.
• Analysts are cautious with a MarketBeat consensus of "Reduce" and an average target of $19, and insiders have sold heavily—about 1,916,218 shares worth ~$27.5M in the last 90 days (insiders still own 26.5%).

C3.ai, Inc. (NYSE:AI - Get Free Report)'s share price dropped 8.9% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as $11.53 and last traded at $11.1660. Approximately 1,290,391 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 79% from the average daily volume of 6,281,436 shares. The stock had previously closed at $12.26.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. DA Davidson restated an "underperform" rating and issued a $13.00 target price on shares of C3.ai in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Needham & Company LLC restated a "hold" rating on shares of C3.ai in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Oppenheimer set a $10.00 target price on C3.ai in a research report on Friday. Wedbush reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $20.00 target price on shares of C3.ai in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group restated a "hold" rating and set a $16.00 target price on shares of C3.ai in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and five have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Reduce" and an average target price of $19.00.

C3.ai Trading Down 7.5%

The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $13.99 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $17.18. The company has a market cap of $1.60 billion, a PE ratio of -4.01 and a beta of 1.97.

C3.ai (NYSE:AI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 3rd. The company reported ($0.25) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.33) by $0.08. The business had revenue of $75.15 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $74.86 million. C3.ai had a negative net margin of 108.06% and a negative return on equity of 46.51%. The business's revenue was down 20.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($0.06) EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that C3.ai, Inc. will post -2.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at C3.ai

In other C3.ai news, CEO Stephen Bradley Ehikian sold 234,918 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.56, for a total value of $3,185,488.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 924,074 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,530,443.44. The trade was a 20.27% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Hitesh Lath sold 15,042 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $14.38, for a total transaction of $216,303.96. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 223,120 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,208,465.60. This represents a 6.32% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,916,218 shares of company stock valued at $27,468,077. Company insiders own 26.50% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Comerica Bank lifted its holdings in C3.ai by 839.1% in the fourth quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 2,423 shares of the company's stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 2,165 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in C3.ai by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,469,953 shares of the company's stock worth $195,055,000 after buying an additional 108,011 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of C3.ai by 29.6% during the fourth quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 4,373 shares of the company's stock valued at $59,000 after acquiring an additional 1,000 shares during the period. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH raised its stake in shares of C3.ai by 20.7% during the fourth quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH now owns 12,798 shares of the company's stock valued at $173,000 after purchasing an additional 2,194 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bayforest Capital Ltd bought a new position in shares of C3.ai in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $62,000. 38.96% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

C3.ai Company Profile

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.

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