SoundHound AI (NASDAQ:SOUN) Trading Up 16.5% – Here’s Why

Shares of SoundHound AI, Inc. (NASDAQ:SOUN) were up 16.5% during trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $8.76 and last traded at $8.56. Approximately 31,223,137 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 14% from the average daily volume of 27,483,467 shares. The stock had previously closed at $7.35.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SOUN has been the subject of a number of research reports. HC Wainwright boosted their price target on SoundHound AI from $18.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of SoundHound AI in a report on Friday, January 9th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded shares of SoundHound AI to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 18th. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on shares of SoundHound AI from $15.00 to $11.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of SoundHound AI from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Monday, January 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $16.07.

SoundHound AI Stock Up 16.5%

The stock has a market capitalization of $3.60 billion, a P/E ratio of -10.19 and a beta of 2.64. The company has a 50 day moving average of $10.76 and a 200-day moving average of $13.32.

SoundHound AI (NASDAQ:SOUN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported ($0.03) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.09) by $0.06. The business had revenue of $42.05 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.48 million. SoundHound AI had a negative return on equity of 93.64% and a negative net margin of 211.16%.The business’s revenue was up 67.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.04) EPS. Equities analysts forecast that SoundHound AI, Inc. will post -0.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at SoundHound AI

In other news, COO Michael Zagorsek sold 73,406 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.28, for a total value of $828,019.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 1,787,459 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,162,537.52. This represents a 3.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Keyvan Mohajer sold 144,326 shares of SoundHound AI stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.28, for a total transaction of $1,627,997.28. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,198,287 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,796,677.36. This represents a 6.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 462,265 shares of company stock worth $5,216,518 in the last ninety days. 9.17% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On SoundHound AI

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its stake in shares of SoundHound AI by 71.3% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 160,299 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,301,000 after purchasing an additional 66,714 shares during the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC raised its holdings in SoundHound AI by 8.9% during the first quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 14,676 shares of the company’s stock valued at $119,000 after buying an additional 1,201 shares in the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its holdings in SoundHound AI by 12.9% during the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 41,030 shares of the company’s stock valued at $333,000 after buying an additional 4,692 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of SoundHound AI by 69.8% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,639,689 shares of the company’s stock worth $21,434,000 after acquiring an additional 1,085,473 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its holdings in shares of SoundHound AI by 10.1% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 692,170 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,620,000 after acquiring an additional 63,398 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 19.28% of the company’s stock.

About SoundHound AI

SoundHound AI, Inc is a voice AI and conversational intelligence company specializing in speech recognition, natural language understanding and sound identification technologies. Founded in 2005 and headquartered in Santa Clara, California, the company initially gained recognition with its music discovery app before pivoting to enterprise-grade voice AI solutions. Over the years, SoundHound AI has built a comprehensive platform that enables developers and businesses to embed conversational intelligence into a wide range of products and services.

The company’s core offering is the Houndify voice AI platform, which provides customizable speech-to-meaning technology, domain-specific natural language understanding and text-to-speech capabilities.