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

Key Points

• On Wednesday, traders bought a staggering 182,940 call options for C3.ai, a 145% increase compared to its typical daily volume.
• Insider trading for C3.ai showed significant sales, with the CFO selling over 17,000 shares and a director offloading 36,000 shares, reflecting decreased company ownership by these insiders.
• C3.ai's stock is currently rated as a "Hold"** by analysts with a consensus price target of $29.79, while its recent earnings report beat estimates despite showing a negative net margin of 74.21%.

C3.ai, Inc. (NYSE:AI - Get Free Report) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Traders purchased 182,940 call options on the stock. Thisisanincreaseofapproximately145% compared to the typical daily volume of 74,622 call options.

Insider Activity

In other C3.ai news, CFO Hitesh Lath sold 17,689 shares of C3.ai stock in a transaction on Friday, June 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.96, for a total transaction of $441,517.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 166,218 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,148,801.28. The trade was a 9.62% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Richard C. Levin sold 36,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.17, for a total value of $1,014,120.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 161,664 shares in the company, valued at $4,554,074.88. This represents a 18.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 2,298,892 shares of company stock worth $58,428,808. 33.54% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On C3.ai

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Garde Capital Inc. bought a new stake in shares of C3.ai during the first quarter worth $29,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its position in C3.ai by 100.7% in the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 909 shares of the company's stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 456 shares during the period. Orion Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of C3.ai during the fourth quarter worth approximately $34,000. CX Institutional bought a new stake in shares of C3.ai during the first quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, Raiffeisen Bank International AG purchased a new stake in shares of C3.ai in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $36,000. 38.96% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AI has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of C3.ai from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, July 12th. UBS Group dropped their price target on C3.ai from $28.00 to $27.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Westpark Capital upgraded C3.ai to a "strong-buy" rating and set a $40.00 price objective for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. KeyCorp restated a "mixed" rating on shares of C3.ai in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Finally, JMP Securities reiterated a "market outperform" rating and issued a $50.00 price objective on shares of C3.ai in a report on Friday, July 25th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, C3.ai presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $29.79.

C3.ai Stock Down 0.4%

C3.ai stock traded down $0.09 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $23.20. The stock had a trading volume of 3,811,191 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,385,668. The stock's 50 day moving average is $25.45 and its two-hundred day moving average is $24.99. C3.ai has a 1 year low of $17.03 and a 1 year high of $45.08. The stock has a market cap of $3.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.37 and a beta of 1.98.

C3.ai (NYSE:AI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 28th. The company reported ($0.16) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.20) by $0.04. The business had revenue of $108.72 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $107.85 million. C3.ai had a negative net margin of 74.21% and a negative return on equity of 33.51%. C3.ai's revenue was up 25.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($0.11) EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that C3.ai will post -2.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

C3.ai Company Profile

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.