SoundHound AI (NASDAQ:SOUN) Shares Climb 7.9% – Still a Buy?

SoundHound AI, Inc. (NASDAQ:SOUN) rose 7.9% during trading on Thursday. The stock traded as high as $4.90 and last traded at $4.89. 17,833,998 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 34% from the average daily volume of 27,080,494 shares. The stock had previously closed at $4.53.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of SoundHound AI from a “sell (e+)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a research report on Thursday. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on shares of SoundHound AI from $7.00 to $6.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, September 22nd. Wall Street Zen cut shares of SoundHound AI from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, September 26th. Finally, DA Davidson cut their target price on shares of SoundHound AI from $12.00 to $10.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, SoundHound AI has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $12.75.

SoundHound AI Price Performance

The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $6.35 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $6.96. The company has a market cap of $2.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -12.42 and a beta of 2.73.

SoundHound AI (NASDAQ:SOUN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported ($0.02) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.13) by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $61.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $52.38 million. SoundHound AI had a negative net margin of 67.45% and a negative return on equity of 30.22%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 45.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned ($0.19) EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that SoundHound AI, Inc. will post -0.32 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at SoundHound AI

In other news, insider James Hom sold 38,730 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.33, for a total value of $245,160.90. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 1,105,555 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,998,163.15. This represents a 3.38% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, 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 Keyvan Mohajer sold 137,290 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.33, for a total transaction of $869,045.70. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 3,684,947 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,325,714.51. The trade was a 3.59% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders sold a total of 288,758 shares of company stock valued at $1,828,598 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 8.84% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On SoundHound AI

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Hollencrest Capital Management increased its stake in shares of SoundHound AI by 197.5% during the first quarter. Hollencrest Capital Management now owns 3,615 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 2,400 shares during the period. SHP Wealth Management acquired a new stake in SoundHound AI in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Krilogy Financial LLC purchased a new position in SoundHound AI in the third quarter worth approximately $62,000. Vermillion Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in SoundHound AI by 92.0% in the first quarter. Vermillion Wealth Management Inc. now owns 9,200 shares of the company’s stock worth $63,000 after acquiring an additional 4,409 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clarus Group Inc. purchased a new position in SoundHound AI in the first quarter worth approximately $69,000. 19.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About SoundHound AI

SoundHound AI, Inc develops voice artificial intelligence technologies that enable people to interact with products and services using natural language. Its platform is designed to understand conversational speech, answer questions, and support voice-enabled experiences across automotive, restaurant, consumer electronics and other industries.

The company’s offerings include the Houndify voice AI platform, which businesses can use to build customized voice assistants, and SoundHound Chat AI, a conversational assistant designed to provide responses and complete tasks through voice interaction.