C3.ai (NYSE:AI) Stock Price Up 8.8% - Still a Buy?

Key Points

• C3.ai shares rose 8.8% to approximately $8.87 in mid-day trading, though trading volume was 54% below the average.
• Analyst sentiment remains cautious: the stock has a consensus “Reduce” rating, with one Buy, six Holds, and six Sells, and an average price target of $10.67.
• C3.ai remains unprofitable, reporting a $0.33 quarterly loss per share and a 52.5% year-over-year revenue decline to $51.6 million. Insiders sold approximately $11.4 million of stock over the past three months, though the sales were made under pre-arranged plans to cover tax obligations.

Shares of C3.ai, Inc. (NYSE:AI - Get Free Report) traded up 8.8% during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $8.85 and last traded at $8.8650. Approximately 2,885,328 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 54% from the average daily volume of 6,288,835 shares. The stock had previously closed at $8.15.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on AI shares. Citizens Jmp reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of C3.ai in a research note on Thursday, June 4th. Wedbush restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $15.00 price objective on shares of C3.ai in a report on Thursday, June 4th. DA Davidson reaffirmed an "underperform" rating and issued a $7.00 target price on shares of C3.ai in a research report on Thursday, June 4th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of C3.ai from a "sell (d-)" rating to a "sell (e+)" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 16th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of C3.ai in a research report on Thursday, June 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and six have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, C3.ai currently has a consensus rating of "Reduce" and an average price target of $10.67.

C3.ai Stock Up 9.1%

The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $9.61 and a 200 day moving average price of $9.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.38 billion, a PE ratio of -2.67 and a beta of 2.06.

C3.ai (NYSE:AI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, June 3rd. The company reported ($0.33) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.38) by $0.05. C3.ai had a negative return on equity of 62.44% and a negative net margin of 187.95%.The firm had revenue of $51.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $51.60 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($0.16) EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was down 52.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that C3.ai, Inc. will post -2.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Hitesh Lath sold 48,619 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.77, for a total transaction of $426,388.63. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 383,106 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,359,839.62. This represents a 11.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CEO Thomas M. Siebel sold 472,005 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.11, for a total transaction of $5,243,975.55. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 722,362 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,025,441.82. The trade was a 39.52% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders have sold 1,155,144 shares of company stock worth $11,420,651 over the last three months. Company insiders own 26.50% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of C3.ai

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its holdings in C3.ai by 31.3% in the second quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 41,500 shares of the company's stock valued at $377,000 after purchasing an additional 9,900 shares during the period. Shearwater Capital LLC increased its holdings in C3.ai by 5.3% during the 2nd quarter. Shearwater Capital LLC now owns 70,826 shares of the company's stock worth $644,000 after purchasing an additional 3,550 shares during the period. 180 Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in C3.ai by 14.6% in the 2nd quarter. 180 Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 89,538 shares of the company's stock valued at $814,000 after purchasing an additional 11,388 shares in the last quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC raised its position in C3.ai by 34.0% in the 2nd quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 6,145 shares of the company's stock valued at $56,000 after purchasing an additional 1,560 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its stake in shares of C3.ai by 1,510.1% in the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 6,859 shares of the company's stock valued at $62,000 after buying an additional 6,433 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 38.96% of the company's stock.

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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