Short Interest in Criteo S.A. (NASDAQ:CRTO) Grows By 26.1%

Criteo S.A. (NASDAQ:CRTO) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in July. As of July 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,400,000 shares, a growth of 26.1% from the June 30th total of 1,110,000 shares. Currently, 2.7% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 422,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.3 days.

Criteo Stock Down 2.0 %

CRTO traded down $0.90 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $43.18. The company had a trading volume of 211,084 shares, compared to its average volume of 334,027. The business has a 50-day moving average of $38.99 and a two-hundred day moving average of $34.97. The company has a market cap of $2.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.44 and a beta of 0.99. Criteo has a 1 year low of $22.10 and a 1 year high of $46.33.

Criteo (NASDAQ:CRTO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The information services provider reported $0.44 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.30 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $253.89 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $246.10 million. Criteo had a return on equity of 12.33% and a net margin of 2.96%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Criteo will post 2.26 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Criteo from $31.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. DA Davidson increased their target price on Criteo from $35.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $40.00 target price on shares of Criteo in a report on Tuesday, April 30th. KeyCorp downgraded Criteo from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Susquehanna increased their target price on Criteo from $33.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, May 6th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Criteo has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $41.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Criteo news, CFO Sarah Js Glickman sold 5,496 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.49, for a total value of $250,013.04. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 320,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,565,943.49. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, major shareholder Till Hufnagel sold 1,540 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.07, for a total transaction of $57,087.80. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,759,275 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $65,216,324.25. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Sarah Js Glickman sold 5,496 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.49, for a total value of $250,013.04. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 320,201 shares in the company, valued at $14,565,943.49. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 41,664 shares of company stock valued at $1,616,411. 1.71% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Criteo

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of CRTO. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position 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 purchasing an additional 297 shares in the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Criteo during the third quarter worth about $33,000. Mather Group LLC. purchased a new stake in shares of Criteo during the first quarter worth about $48,000. Covestor Ltd grew its position in shares of Criteo by 64.1% during the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,838 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $64,000 after purchasing an additional 718 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in shares of Criteo by 7,011.5% during the second 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 in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.27% of the company’s stock.

Criteo Company Profile

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.