Criteo (NASDAQ:CRTO) Raised to Strong-Buy at StockNews.com

Criteo (NASDAQ:CRTO) was upgraded by StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report released on Saturday.

A number of other equities research analysts have also weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Criteo from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $51.00 price objective on shares of Criteo in a report on Tuesday. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $61.00 target price (up previously from $59.00) on shares of Criteo in a report on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Criteo from $48.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Susquehanna reduced their price objective on shares of Criteo from $50.00 to $36.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $52.90.

Criteo Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of CRTO stock opened at $45.50 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.95 and a beta of 1.05. The business’s 50 day moving average is $40.15 and its two-hundred day moving average is $41.60. Criteo has a twelve month low of $30.76 and a twelve month high of $49.93.

Criteo (NASDAQ:CRTO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The information services provider reported $1.41 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.37 by $0.04. Criteo had a net margin of 4.52% and a return on equity of 15.56%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Criteo will post 2.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Megan Clarken sold 9,284 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.36, for a total value of $374,702.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 509,145 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,549,092.20. The trade was a 1.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Brian Gleason sold 3,135 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.95, for a total transaction of $115,838.25. Following the sale, the insider now owns 139,085 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,139,190.75. This trade represents a 2.20 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 21,541 shares of company stock worth $860,406 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 1.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Criteo

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CRTO. Senvest Management LLC increased its position in Criteo by 19.6% during the third quarter. Senvest Management LLC now owns 2,895,784 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $116,526,000 after purchasing an additional 475,530 shares during the last quarter. Whale Rock Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Criteo by 230.1% in the 3rd quarter. Whale Rock Capital Management LLC now owns 2,519,864 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $101,399,000 after buying an additional 1,756,507 shares during the period. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC boosted its holdings in Criteo by 42.0% in the third quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 1,853,068 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $74,567,000 after acquiring an additional 547,718 shares during the last quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. purchased a new stake in Criteo during the third quarter valued at about $48,653,000. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its stake in Criteo by 31.0% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 437,419 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $17,602,000 after acquiring an additional 103,593 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.27% of the company’s stock.

About Criteo

Criteo SA, a technology company, provides marketing and monetization services on the open Internet in North and South America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia-Pacific. The company's Criteo Shopper Graph, which derives clients' proprietary commerce data, such as transaction activity on their digital properties.