C3.ai, Inc. (NYSE:AI) Stock Has Average Target Price of $9.62

Key Points

• Analysts hold a bearish view: C3.ai has a consensus “Reduce” rating, with seven sell, five hold and two buy recommendations. The average 12-month price target is $9.62, below the reported share price of $12.13.
• Financial performance remains weak: The company reported a quarterly loss of $0.20 per share, though it beat estimates, while revenue declined 25.4% year over year to $52.38 million. Analysts expect a full-year loss of $2.20 per share.
• Insiders have been selling shares: CEO Thomas Siebel sold about $5.15 million worth of stock and the CFO sold $247,400 under pre-arranged trading plans. Insiders sold 1.57 million shares worth $17.1 million over the past 90 days.

Shares of C3.ai, Inc. (NYSE:AI - Get Free Report) have received a consensus rating of "Reduce" from the fourteen analysts that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have assigned a hold recommendation and two have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $9.62.

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on AI shares. Yorkville Ives began coverage on shares of C3.ai in a research note on Tuesday, October 6th. They issued an "in-line" rating and a $12.50 target price for the company. DA Davidson reiterated an "underperform" rating and issued a $7.00 price target on shares of C3.ai in a research note on Tuesday, September 1st. Citizens Jmp reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of C3.ai in a research report on Tuesday, September 29th. Northland Securities upgraded shares of C3.ai from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $10.00 to $16.00 in a research note on Monday, October 12th. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of C3.ai in a report on Thursday, September 3rd.

C3.ai Price Performance

C3.ai stock opened at $12.13 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $1.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.94 and a beta of 2.11. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $11.03 and a 200-day moving average of $10.10. C3.ai has a one year low of $7.68 and a one year high of $17.59.

C3.ai (NYSE:AI - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, September 2nd. The company reported ($0.20) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.26) by $0.06. C3.ai had a negative return on equity of 61.25% and a negative net margin of 192.10%. The business had revenue of $52.38 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $52.06 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($0.37) earnings per share. C3.ai's quarterly revenue was down 25.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that C3.ai will post -2.20 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other C3.ai news, CEO Thomas M. Siebel sold 435,363 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.82, for a total value of $5,145,990.66. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 722,362 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,538,318.84. This trade represents a 37.61% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Hitesh Lath sold 20,000 shares of C3.ai stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $12.37, for a total value of $247,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 305,250 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,775,942.50. This trade represents a 6.15% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,573,172 shares of company stock valued at $17,117,621. Company insiders own 19.80% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On C3.ai

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of AI. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its holdings in C3.ai by 418.7% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 177,527 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,495,000 after acquiring an additional 143,303 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in C3.ai during the first quarter valued at about $934,000. Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in C3.ai by 55.1% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 3,282,183 shares of the company's stock worth $27,636,000 after acquiring an additional 1,166,302 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP increased its stake in C3.ai by 67.3% during the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,215,341 shares of the company's stock worth $10,233,000 after acquiring an additional 488,710 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Edgestream Partners L.P. raised its holdings in shares of C3.ai by 247.5% in the 1st quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 658,573 shares of the company's stock worth $5,545,000 after purchasing an additional 469,057 shares during the period. 38.96% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About C3.ai

C3.ai, Inc NYSE: AI is an enterprise artificial intelligence software company that develops applications and tools designed to help organizations deploy AI at scale. Its products support the development, integration and operation of AI applications using data from multiple business systems and sources.

The company's offerings include the C3 AI Platform, which provides capabilities for data management, machine learning, application development and model operations, as well as prebuilt applications for areas such as predictive maintenance, fraud detection, supply-chain optimization, customer engagement and energy management.

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