Investors Purchase High Volume of Call Options on Criteo (NASDAQ:CRTO)

Criteo S.A. (NASDAQ:CRTO) was the target of unusually large options trading on Monday. Investors bought 20,004 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 6,681% compared to the typical daily volume of 295 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have issued reports on CRTO shares. DA Davidson upped their price objective on Criteo from $27.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Criteo from $28.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Criteo from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $28.00 to $41.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Susquehanna upped their target price on shares of Criteo from $26.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, TheStreet upgraded shares of Criteo from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $36.11.

Insider Transactions at Criteo

In other news, CFO Sarah Js Glickman sold 3,622 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.74, for a total value of $89,608.28. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 249,706 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,177,726.44. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Criteo news, CFO Sarah Js Glickman sold 3,622 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.74, for a total transaction of $89,608.28. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 249,706 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,177,726.44. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Ryan Damon sold 7,959 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.69, for a total value of $260,179.71. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 144,545 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,725,176.05. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 86,725 shares of company stock valued at $2,827,082 in the last three months. 1.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Criteo

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of CRTO. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. lifted its stake in Criteo by 13.4% in the 3rd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 10,528 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $307,000 after purchasing an additional 1,248 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Criteo in the 3rd quarter valued at about $15,306,000. Jump Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Criteo in the 3rd quarter valued at about $683,000. VELA Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Criteo by 83.4% in the 3rd quarter. VELA Investment Management LLC now owns 81,525 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,381,000 after purchasing an additional 37,074 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC acquired a new stake in Criteo in the 3rd quarter valued at about $394,000. 94.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Criteo Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of CRTO traded up $0.08 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $35.50. The stock had a trading volume of 433,660 shares, compared to its average volume of 250,867. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $33.88 and a 200 day moving average of $28.63. The company has a market cap of $1.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.51 and a beta of 0.95. Criteo has a 52 week low of $22.10 and a 52 week high of $36.75.

Criteo (NASDAQ:CRTO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 7th. The information services provider reported $1.24 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.30. Criteo had a net margin of 2.73% and a return on equity of 10.42%. The company had revenue of $316.38 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $300.35 million. As a group, equities analysts expect that Criteo will post 2.3 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.