Criteo (NASDAQ:CRTO) Trading Up 4% – Time to Buy?

Criteo S.A. (NASDAQ:CRTO)’s stock price was up 4% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $36.47 and last traded at $36.52. Approximately 236,083 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 43% from the average daily volume of 416,663 shares. The stock had previously closed at $35.10.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have commented on CRTO shares. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Criteo from $48.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $61.00 target price (up previously from $59.00) on shares of Criteo in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $51.00 target price on shares of Criteo in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Criteo from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, DA Davidson increased their price objective on shares of Criteo from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Criteo presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $52.90.

Criteo Stock Up 3.9 %

The company’s fifty day moving average is $39.22 and its 200 day moving average is $40.13. The firm has a market cap of $2.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.70 and a beta of 0.98.

Criteo (NASDAQ:CRTO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The information services provider reported $1.41 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.37 by $0.04. Criteo had a net margin of 5.08% and a return on equity of 16.37%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Criteo S.A. will post 3.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Criteo

In other Criteo news, CEO Megan Clarken sold 7,481 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.51, for a total value of $332,979.31. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 502,052 shares in the company, valued at $22,346,334.52. This trade represents a 1.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Brian Gleason sold 1,924 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.08, for a total transaction of $73,265.92. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 137,161 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,223,090.88. This represents a 1.38 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 26,363 shares of company stock worth $1,124,213 over the last quarter. 1.71% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Criteo

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vega Investment Solutions acquired a new stake in shares of Criteo during the 4th quarter worth about $41,000. Two Sigma Advisers LP lifted its stake in shares of Criteo by 102.7% during the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 564,000 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $22,312,000 after buying an additional 285,800 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP lifted its stake in shares of Criteo by 17.3% during the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 360,616 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $14,266,000 after buying an additional 53,230 shares during the last quarter. State of Wyoming lifted its stake in shares of Criteo by 15.5% during the 4th quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 17,509 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $693,000 after buying an additional 2,351 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quantedge Capital Pte Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Criteo by 16.9% during the 4th quarter. Quantedge Capital Pte Ltd now owns 273,700 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $10,828,000 after buying an additional 39,600 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.