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

C3.ai, Inc. (NYSE:AI) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Stock investors acquired 76,266 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 58% compared to the average volume of 48,323 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. UBS Group restated a “reduce” rating on shares of C3.ai in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Wolfe Research reissued an “underperform” rating and issued a $6.00 price objective on shares of C3.ai in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Bank of America set a $10.00 price objective on shares of C3.ai in a research report on Friday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of C3.ai from $10.00 to $7.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, Citizens Jmp lowered C3.ai from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and six have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, C3.ai currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $15.93.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Hitesh Lath sold 15,248 shares of C3.ai stock in a transaction on Monday, March 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.98, for a total transaction of $136,927.04. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 238,308 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,140,005.84. The trade was a 6.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Thomas M. Siebel sold 326,189 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.31, for a total value of $2,710,630.59. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman owned 722,362 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,002,828.22. The trade was a 31.11% 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. Insiders sold a total of 1,111,051 shares of company stock valued at $9,547,130 in the last 90 days. 26.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On C3.ai

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in C3.ai by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,469,953 shares of the company’s stock worth $195,055,000 after acquiring an additional 108,011 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its position in C3.ai by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,824,499 shares of the company’s stock worth $65,034,000 after purchasing an additional 91,802 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in C3.ai by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,976,389 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,122,000 after purchasing an additional 94,086 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in C3.ai by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,868,578 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,675,000 after purchasing an additional 21,451 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its position in C3.ai by 9.6% during the third quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 2,425,976 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,066,000 after purchasing an additional 211,786 shares during the last quarter. 38.96% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Key Stories Impacting C3.ai

Here are the key news stories impacting C3.ai this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Unusual options activity pointed to bullish interest in C3.ai, with traders buying 76,266 call options on Thursday, well above average volume. This can sometimes signal speculation on a near-term rebound.
• Positive Sentiment: Broader AI optimism remains intact, as several articles cited improving AI demand and strong AI-related earnings from other companies, which can help support sentiment toward AI stocks overall.
• Neutral Sentiment: Market commentary on the AI rally suggests investors are still debating whether the boom is durable, with some strategists arguing valuations and demand are more rational than during the dot-com era.
• Neutral Sentiment: News around Cisco Systems (CSCO) highlighted strong AI order growth and raised guidance, reinforcing interest in AI infrastructure, though it does not directly change C3.ai’s operating outlook.
• Negative Sentiment: Software stocks, including C3.ai, were pressured as rising Treasury yields and renewed geopolitical tensions weighed on the sector, contributing to a broad selloff in high-growth names.
• Negative Sentiment: C3.ai’s last earnings report was weak, with a wider-than-expected loss and revenue well below estimates, while quarterly revenue fell sharply year over year. That backdrop is still weighing on the stock.

C3.ai Stock Performance

AI traded down $0.39 during trading on Friday, reaching $8.65. 5,217,304 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,361,642. The company has a market cap of $1.26 billion, a P/E ratio of -2.74 and a beta of 2.00. C3.ai has a 12-month low of $7.68 and a 12-month high of $30.24. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $8.85 and a 200 day simple moving average of $11.78.

C3.ai (NYSE:AI) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The company reported ($0.40) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.29) by ($0.11). The company had revenue of $53.26 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $75.91 million. C3.ai had a negative return on equity of 55.40% and a negative net margin of 141.35%.C3.ai’s quarterly revenue was down 46.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($0.12) EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that C3.ai will post -3.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About C3.ai

C3.ai, Inc is a leading enterprise software provider focused on delivering scalable artificial intelligence (AI) and Internet of Things (IoT) solutions to large organizations. The company’s core offering, the C3 AI Suite, is a comprehensive, model-driven platform that unifies data ingestion, model development, and application deployment. Through its suite of tools, C3.ai enables customers to accelerate digital transformation initiatives by applying advanced machine learning, predictive analytics, and AI-driven insights across a broad range of business functions.

The C3 AI Suite provides a low-code environment for data scientists and application developers to rapidly design, test, and deploy enterprise-scale AI applications.