Criteo (NASDAQ:CRTO) Upgraded to “Strong-Buy” by StockNews.com

Criteo (NASDAQ:CRTO) was upgraded by stock analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Monday.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on CRTO. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Criteo from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Macquarie raised their price objective on shares of Criteo from $45.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Criteo from $35.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Susquehanna lifted their price objective on shares of Criteo from $40.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Criteo from $40.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Criteo presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $48.30.

Criteo Price Performance

Criteo stock traded down $3.23 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $43.44. The company had a trading volume of 656,755 shares, compared to its average volume of 346,870. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $39.62 and its 200-day simple moving average is $35.58. Criteo has a 1 year low of $22.10 and a 1 year high of $49.00. The company has a market capitalization of $2.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.78 and a beta of 0.99.

Criteo (NASDAQ:CRTO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The information services provider reported $1.08 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.31. Criteo had a net margin of 4.54% and a return on equity of 15.64%. The business had revenue of $471.31 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $263.64 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.12 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Criteo will post 2.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Criteo

In other Criteo news, major shareholder Till Hufnagel acquired 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 14th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $37.67 per share, with a total value of $226,020.00. Following the acquisition, the insider now directly owns 1,777,425 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $66,955,599.75. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, major shareholder Till Hufnagel purchased 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 14th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $37.67 per share, for a total transaction of $226,020.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider now directly owns 1,777,425 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $66,955,599.75. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Ryan Damon sold 946 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.99, for a total transaction of $36,884.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 153,623 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,989,760.77. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 20,003 shares of company stock valued at $812,355 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.71% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Criteo

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Waterfront Wealth Inc. boosted its position in Criteo by 1.2% during the second quarter. Waterfront Wealth Inc. now owns 58,280 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,198,000 after purchasing an additional 686 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in Criteo by 7,011.5% during the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,849 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $65,000 after buying an additional 1,823 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new stake in Criteo in the second quarter worth $248,000. QRG Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Criteo by 64.0% in the second quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 15,000 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $566,000 after acquiring an additional 5,854 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Criteo by 67.3% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 738 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 297 shares during the last quarter. 94.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.