C3.ai Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:AI)

Key Points

• C3.ai experienced a significant spike in options trading, with 134,956 put options purchased, representing a 68% increase over the average daily volume.
• The company's stock price rose 1.6% on Tuesday, closing at $16.74, although it remains well below its 52-week high of $45.08.
• Recent insider trading reports indicate that insiders have sold a total of 1,957,194 shares of C3.ai stock worth over $50 million in the last quarter.

C3.ai, Inc. (NYSE:AI - Get Free Report) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Investors purchased 134,956 put options on the stock. Thisrepresentsanincreaseof68% compared to the typical daily volume of 80,498 put options.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Merel Witteveen sold 5,485 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.95, for a total value of $131,365.75. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 13,740 shares of the company's stock, valued at $329,073. This represents a 28.53% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Richard C. Levin sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.31, for a total transaction of $157,860.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 161,664 shares in the company, valued at $4,253,379.84. This trade represents a 3.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 1,685,115 shares of company stock worth $43,700,880. 33.54% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On C3.ai

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of AI. Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its position in C3.ai by 38.1% during the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 120,197 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,138,000 after acquiring an additional 33,186 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its position in C3.ai by 100.7% during the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 909 shares of the company's stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 456 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in C3.ai by 9.2% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 331,767 shares of the company's stock valued at $11,423,000 after acquiring an additional 28,071 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc raised its holdings in shares of C3.ai by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 119,144 shares of the company's stock worth $4,102,000 after buying an additional 517 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of C3.ai in the fourth quarter worth $3,942,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 38.96% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on AI. JMP Securities reissued a "market outperform" rating and issued a $50.00 price objective on shares of C3.ai in a research report on Friday, July 25th. DA Davidson reissued an "underperform" rating and issued a $13.00 price objective (down from $25.00) on shares of C3.ai in a research report on Monday. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of C3.ai from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on shares of C3.ai from $28.00 to $27.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of C3.ai from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, July 12th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $27.43.

C3.ai Stock Up 5.3%

Shares of NYSE AI traded up $0.89 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $17.80. 4,692,773 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,877,341. C3.ai has a one year low of $14.70 and a one year high of $45.08. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $24.92 and its 200-day simple moving average is $24.55. The company has a market cap of $2.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.88 and a beta of 1.98.

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

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.