C3.ai (NYSE:AI) Stock Price Up 6.1% - Should You Buy?

Key Points

• C3.ai's share price increased by 6.1% on Wednesday, trading at $17.95 with a trading volume of approximately 7.18 million shares - notably higher than the average daily volume.
• Analysts have mixed opinions on the stock, with ratings ranging from "underperform" by DA Davidson at a $13.00 price target, to a "strong buy" from Westpark Capital at $40.00.
• Insider activity saw significant selling, with CEO Thomas M. Siebel offloading 601,498 shares, reflecting a 13.61% decrease in his ownership, while insiders collectively sold over 1.6 million shares worth nearly $43.7 million in the last three months.

C3.ai, Inc. (NYSE:AI - Get Free Report)'s share price rose 6.1% on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $17.85 and last traded at $17.95. Approximately 7,183,327 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 22% from the average daily volume of 5,886,496 shares. The stock had previously closed at $16.91.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AI has been the topic of several analyst reports. DA Davidson reiterated an "underperform" rating and set a $13.00 price target (down previously from $25.00) on shares of C3.ai in a research note on Monday. JMP Securities restated a "market outperform" rating and set a $50.00 price objective on shares of C3.ai in a research report on Friday, July 25th. 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. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of C3.ai from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, July 12th. Finally, Piper Sandler reduced their price target on shares of C3.ai from $28.00 to $27.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 29th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, C3.ai presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $27.43.

C3.ai Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $2.50 billion, a P/E ratio of -8.29 and a beta of 1.98. The firm's fifty day moving average is $24.92 and its 200 day moving average is $24.55.

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

Insider Activity at C3.ai

In other C3.ai news, CEO Thomas M. Siebel sold 601,498 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.02, for a total value of $15,049,479.96. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 3,816,802 shares of the company's stock, valued at $95,496,386.04. The trade was a 13.61% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director John E. Hyten sold 10,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.75, for a total transaction of $237,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 63,942 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,518,622.50. This trade represents a 13.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,685,115 shares of company stock worth $43,700,880 in the last three months. 33.54% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On C3.ai

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AI. Two Sigma Investments LP purchased a new stake in shares of C3.ai in the 4th quarter worth approximately $42,306,000. Man Group plc purchased a new stake in C3.ai during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,455,000. Two Sigma Advisers LP purchased a new stake in C3.ai during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,725,000. Vident Advisory LLC lifted its position in C3.ai by 3,935.9% during the first quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 568,492 shares of the company's stock valued at $11,967,000 after acquiring an additional 554,406 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in C3.ai by 3.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,407,490 shares of the company's stock valued at $282,228,000 after acquiring an additional 471,521 shares during the last quarter. 38.96% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.

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