Criteo (NASDAQ:CRTO) Shares Gap Up – Should You Buy?

Criteo S.A. (NASDAQ:CRTO)’s stock price gapped up before the market opened on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $17.82, but opened at $18.47. Criteo shares last traded at $18.3050, with a volume of 38,686 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Criteo from $29.00 to $25.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $18.00 price objective (down from $34.00) on shares of Criteo in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Criteo in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Criteo in a research report on Friday, August 14th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets set a $20.00 price target on Criteo in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $23.15.

Criteo Price Performance

The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $19.73 and its 200-day simple moving average is $18.64. The firm has a market cap of $874.65 million, a PE ratio of 9.06 and a beta of 0.29.

Criteo (NASDAQ:CRTO) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The information services provider reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.71 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $428.02 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $263.40 million. Criteo had a return on equity of 14.33% and a net margin of 5.60%.The firm’s revenue was down 11.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.92 EPS. Analysts expect that Criteo S.A. will post 2.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Criteo

In other Criteo news, CFO Sarah Js Glickman sold 6,285 shares of Criteo stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.23, for a total transaction of $108,290.55. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 424,612 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,316,064.76. The trade was a 1.46% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CEO Michael Komasinski sold 15,559 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.23, for a total transaction of $268,081.57. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 345,547 shares in the company, valued at $5,953,774.81. This trade represents a 4.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders sold a total of 30,487 shares of company stock worth $524,872 over the last three months. 1.52% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Criteo

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its stake in shares of Criteo by 1,376.7% during the 1st quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,270 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 1,184 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in Criteo by 7.2% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 16,313 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $391,000 after acquiring an additional 1,094 shares in the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd lifted its holdings in Criteo by 145.0% in the second quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 432,881 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $10,372,000 after acquiring an additional 256,227 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its holdings in Criteo by 41.6% in the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 8,587 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $206,000 after acquiring an additional 2,524 shares during the period. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its position in Criteo by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 4,411,988 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $105,711,000 after purchasing an additional 82,134 shares in the last quarter. 94.27% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Criteo

Criteo is a global technology company specializing in digital performance advertising and commerce media solutions. The company provides a range of AI-driven ad products designed to help brands, retailers, and agencies deliver personalized promotional messages to consumers across web, mobile, and connected TV environments. By leveraging large-scale data analytics and machine learning algorithms, Criteo’s platform optimizes the timing, placement, and creative of ads to drive engagement and conversions.

At the core of Criteo’s offering is its dynamic retargeting solution, which enables advertisers to automatically generate and display personalized product recommendations based on user behavior.