C3.ai (NYSE:AI) Trading 2.5% Higher - Should You Buy?

Key Points

• C3.ai's stock rose by 2.5%, closing at $16.88, with trading volume increasing by 28% compared to its daily average.
• Analysts show a mixed outlook, with a consensus rating of "Hold" and a target price of $27.43, while some firms adjusted their price targets downwards.
• Insider selling has been significant, with executives offloading large quantities of shares, indicating potential concerns among company leadership.

C3.ai, Inc. (NYSE:AI - Get Free Report) traded up 2.5% during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $17.14 and last traded at $16.88. 7,436,338 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 28% from the average session volume of 5,823,568 shares. The stock had previously closed at $16.47.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on AI. Oppenheimer downgraded shares of C3.ai from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Wall Street Zen upgraded C3.ai from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, July 12th. Northland Capmk downgraded C3.ai from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday. Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their price objective on C3.ai from $30.00 to $28.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Finally, JMP Securities reiterated a "market outperform" rating and issued a $50.00 target price on shares of C3.ai in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $27.43.

C3.ai Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $2.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.93 and a beta of 1.98. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $24.92 and a 200-day simple moving average of $24.55.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director John E. Hyten sold 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.75, for a total value of $237,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 63,942 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,518,622.50. This represents a 13.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Richard C. Levin sold 36,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.17, for a total value of $1,014,120.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 161,664 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,554,074.88. This trade represents a 18.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,685,115 shares of company stock valued at $43,700,880 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 33.54% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On C3.ai

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Garde Capital Inc. bought a new stake in shares of C3.ai during the first quarter worth $29,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its stake in C3.ai by 100.7% in the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 909 shares of the company's stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 456 shares during the period. Orion Capital Management LLC bought a new position in C3.ai during the 4th quarter worth about $34,000. CX Institutional acquired a new stake in shares of C3.ai in the 1st quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, Raiffeisen Bank International AG bought a new stake in shares of C3.ai in the fourth quarter valued at about $36,000. 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.