C3.ai (NYSE:AI) Receives "Hold" Rating from Needham & Company LLC

Key Points

• Needham & Company LLC has reiterated a "Hold" rating for C3.ai (NYSE:AI) in a recent research report, reflecting a cautious outlook on the company's stock.
• Analysts have varying opinions on C3.ai, with Morgan Stanley lowering its target price from $20.00 to $22.00, while Westpark Capital set a much higher price target of $40.00 after upgrading the stock to a "strong-buy" rating.
• C3.ai's quarterly earnings were disappointing, showing a loss of ($0.86) per share, significantly missing consensus estimates and marking a 19.4% decline in revenue year-over-year.

Needham & Company LLC restated their hold rating on shares of C3.ai (NYSE:AI - Free Report) in a research note released on Thursday,Benzinga reports.

AI has been the subject of several other research reports. Morgan Stanley boosted 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. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of C3.ai from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 16th. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on shares of C3.ai from $28.00 to $27.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of C3.ai from $23.00 to $16.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Westpark Capital raised shares of C3.ai to a "strong-buy" rating and set a $40.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, C3.ai has an average rating of "Reduce" and an average target price of $23.00.

C3.ai Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AI traded up $0.12 during trading on Thursday, hitting $15.58. 12,575,946 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 12,540,028. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.09 billion, a P/E ratio of -5.99 and a beta of 1.96. C3.ai has a 12-month low of $14.70 and a 12-month high of $45.08. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $22.24 and its 200-day moving average price is $22.64.

C3.ai (NYSE:AI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 3rd. The company reported ($0.86) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.21) by ($0.65). The company had revenue of $70.26 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $104.02 million. C3.ai had a negative return on equity of 40.06% and a negative net margin of 92.08%.The firm's quarterly revenue was down 19.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.05) EPS. C3.ai has set its Q2 2026 guidance at EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that C3.ai will post -2.44 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at C3.ai

In related news, VP Merel Witteveen sold 5,485 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.95, for a total value of $131,365.75. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 13,740 shares in the company, valued at $329,073. This represents a 28.53% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director John E. Hyten sold 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on 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 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 2,162,768 shares of company stock worth $50,525,604 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 26.50% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of C3.ai

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of C3.ai by 3.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,407,490 shares of the company's stock worth $282,228,000 after acquiring an additional 471,521 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of C3.ai by 4.3% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,826,249 shares of the company's stock worth $69,441,000 after acquiring an additional 116,611 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of C3.ai by 5.9% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,813,233 shares of the company's stock worth $69,129,000 after acquiring an additional 156,925 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of C3.ai by 2.6% in the 2nd quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 2,214,190 shares of the company's stock worth $54,401,000 after acquiring an additional 56,887 shares during the period. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP acquired a new stake in shares of C3.ai in the 4th quarter worth $42,306,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 38.96% of the company's stock.

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.