Criteo S.A. (NASDAQ:CRTO) Short Interest Update

Criteo S.A. (NASDAQ:CRTO) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in the month of August. As of August 14th, there was short interest totaling 1,586,039 shares, an increase of 47.7% from the July 30th total of 1,073,598 shares. Currently, 3.3% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 838,289 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.9 days.

Criteo Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CRTO traded down $0.35 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $17.30. 92,152 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 453,240. The company’s fifty day moving average is $19.72 and its two-hundred day moving average is $18.55. Criteo has a fifty-two week low of $15.57 and a fifty-two week high of $25.29. The stock has a market cap of $847.70 million, a PE ratio of 8.78 and a beta of 0.29.

Criteo (NASDAQ:CRTO) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The information services provider reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.71 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $428.02 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $263.40 million. Criteo had a return on equity of 14.33% and a net margin of 5.60%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.92 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Criteo will post 2.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Criteo

In other Criteo news, insider Ryan Damon sold 6,178 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.23, for a total value of $106,446.94. Following the transaction, the insider owned 167,765 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,890,590.95. This represents a 3.55% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available 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 that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 345,547 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,953,774.81. This represents a 4.31% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 30,725 shares of company stock valued at $529,527. Corporate insiders own 1.52% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Criteo

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CRTO. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its holdings in Criteo by 1,376.7% in the 1st quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,270 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $45,000 after acquiring an additional 1,184 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings 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 during the period. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd boosted its holdings in Criteo by 145.0% during 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 grew its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 2,524 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its position in shares of Criteo by 1.9% in the second quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 4,411,988 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $105,711,000 after purchasing an additional 82,134 shares during the last quarter. 94.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CRTO has been the topic of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $18.00 price target (down from $34.00) on shares of Criteo in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and set a $24.00 price objective on shares of Criteo in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Huber Research downgraded Criteo from an “overweight” rating to an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 24th. 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 investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $22.65.

Criteo Company Profile

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.