Stock Traders Buy Large Volume of Call Options on C3.ai (NYSE:AI)

Key Points

• Unusual options activity: Traders purchased 199,761 C3.ai call options, about 403% above the typical volume of 39,728 contracts.
• Insider selling continued: Executives sold shares worth millions, including CEO Thomas Siebel’s $4.76 million sale and CFO Hitesh Lath’s $220,887 sale. Insiders sold 1.57 million shares valued at $17.1 million during the last quarter.
• Analyst sentiment remains cautious: C3.ai has an average “Reduce” rating and a $9.36 price target, below its recent $11.32 price. The company remains unprofitable, despite beating quarterly revenue and EPS estimates.

C3.ai, Inc. (NYSE:AI - Get Free Report) saw some unusual options trading activity on Friday. Traders purchased 199,761 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 403% compared to the typical volume of 39,728 call options.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other C3.ai news, CFO Hitesh Lath sold 21,077 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.48, for a total value of $220,886.96. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 371,036 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,888,457.28. The trade was a 5.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CEO Thomas M. Siebel sold 453,314 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.51, for a total value of $4,764,330.14. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 722,362 shares in the company, valued at $7,592,024.62. The trade was a 38.56% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 1,573,172 shares of company stock valued at $17,117,621 in the last quarter. 19.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On C3.ai

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Western Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of C3.ai during the first quarter worth about $26,000. AdvisorNet Financial Inc acquired a new stake in C3.ai in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $34,000. 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 buying an additional 1,560 shares during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its position in 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 last quarter. Finally, Nykredit A S bought a new stake in C3.ai in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $84,000. Institutional investors own 38.96% of the company's stock.

C3.ai Stock Performance

NYSE:AI traded down $0.83 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $11.32. The company had a trading volume of 9,714,926 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,063,944. C3.ai has a fifty-two week low of $7.68 and a fifty-two week high of $18.79. The firm has a market cap of $1.82 billion, a P/E ratio of -3.68 and a beta of 2.11. The business's fifty day moving average is $10.69 and its two-hundred day moving average is $9.81.

C3.ai (NYSE:AI - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, September 2nd. The company reported ($0.20) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.26) by $0.06. The company had revenue of $52.38 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $52.06 million. C3.ai had a negative return on equity of 61.25% and a negative net margin of 192.10%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 25.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned ($0.37) EPS. Equities analysts forecast that C3.ai will post -2.21 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on AI shares. UBS Group reaffirmed an "underperform" rating on shares of C3.ai in a research note on Tuesday, September 1st. Wall Street Zen upgraded C3.ai from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Sunday, October 11th. Citizens Jmp reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of C3.ai in a report on Tuesday, September 29th. Citigroup reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of C3.ai in a report on Thursday, September 3rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of C3.ai from a "sell (e+)" rating to a "sell (d-)" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and seven have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Reduce" and an average price target of $9.36.

About C3.ai

C3.ai, Inc is an enterprise artificial intelligence software company that develops applications and tools designed to help organizations use AI and machine learning to analyze data, automate processes and support business decision-making. The company's offerings are intended for large commercial enterprises, government agencies and other organizations managing complex operational and data environments.

Its product portfolio includes the C3 AI Platform, which provides capabilities for developing, deploying and operating AI applications, as well as prebuilt enterprise applications.

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