Traders Purchase Large Volume of Criteo Call Options (NASDAQ:CRTO)

Criteo S.A. (NASDAQ:CRTO) was the target of some unusual options trading on Tuesday. Investors purchased 15,408 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 560% compared to the typical volume of 2,336 call options.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Sarah Js Glickman sold 5,496 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.49, for a total transaction of $250,013.04. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 320,201 shares in the company, valued at $14,565,943.49. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 1.71% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Criteo

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Criteo by 67.3% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 738 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 297 shares during the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. purchased a new stake in shares of Criteo during the first quarter worth approximately $48,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Criteo by 868.1% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,394 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $53,000 after purchasing an additional 1,250 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd raised its position in Criteo by 64.1% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,838 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $64,000 after buying an additional 718 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. increased its position 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 worth $65,000 after purchasing an additional 1,823 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.27% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on CRTO shares. DA Davidson raised Criteo from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $43.00 to $58.00 in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Benchmark raised their target price on Criteo from $45.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. KeyCorp cut Criteo from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Criteo from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Macquarie boosted their price objective on shares of Criteo from $45.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Criteo currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $50.11.

Criteo Price Performance

Shares of CRTO traded up $1.05 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $43.00. 638,426 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 349,090. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $45.00 and its 200-day simple moving average is $39.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.44 billion, a PE ratio of 43.25 and a beta of 0.99. Criteo has a 52-week low of $22.10 and a 52-week high of $49.93.

Criteo (NASDAQ:CRTO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The information services provider reported $1.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.31. The company had revenue of $471.31 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $263.64 million. Criteo had a net margin of 4.54% and a return on equity of 15.64%. Criteo’s revenue for the quarter was up .5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.12 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Criteo will post 2.8 earnings per share for the current year.

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.