Criteo S.A. (NASDAQ:CRTO) Short Interest Up 80.7% in June

Criteo S.A. (NASDAQ:CRTO) saw a large growth in short interest in the month of June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 923,100 shares, a growth of 80.7% from the May 31st total of 510,900 shares. Currently, 1.8% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 346,300 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.7 days.

Criteo Trading Up 2.3 %

Shares of CRTO stock traded up $0.84 on Friday, hitting $37.72. 467,818 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 306,611. Criteo has a one year low of $22.10 and a one year high of $39.97. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $37.17 and its two-hundred day moving average is $32.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.14 billion, a PE ratio of 38.89 and a beta of 0.95.

Criteo (NASDAQ:CRTO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The information services provider reported $0.44 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.30 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $253.89 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $246.10 million. Criteo had a net margin of 2.96% and a return on equity of 12.33%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Criteo will post 2.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on CRTO. KeyCorp increased their price objective on Criteo from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Criteo from $31.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $40.00 target price on shares of Criteo in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. DA Davidson raised their price target on shares of Criteo from $35.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Susquehanna upped their price objective on shares of Criteo from $33.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, May 6th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $39.44.

Insider Activity

In other Criteo news, CEO Megan Clarken sold 3,894 shares of Criteo stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.99, for a total value of $151,827.06. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 533,202 shares in the company, valued at $20,789,545.98. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Criteo news, CEO Megan Clarken sold 3,894 shares of Criteo stock in a transaction on Friday, May 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.99, for a total value of $151,827.06. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 533,202 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,789,545.98. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Till Hufnagel bought 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 14th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $37.67 per share, with a total value of $226,020.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,777,425 shares in the company, valued at $66,955,599.75. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have sold 41,672 shares of company stock valued at $1,561,239 in the last ninety days. 1.71% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Criteo

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its holdings in Criteo by 17.8% during the 3rd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 120,061 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,506,000 after purchasing an additional 18,128 shares in the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. purchased a new position in Criteo during the third quarter valued at approximately $33,000. FNY Investment Advisers LLC increased its holdings in Criteo by 300.0% during the 4th quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC now owns 6,000 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $151,000 after acquiring an additional 4,500 shares during the period. VELA Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Criteo by 21.5% in the 4th quarter. VELA Investment Management LLC now owns 99,086 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,509,000 after purchasing an additional 17,561 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its stake in Criteo by 85.6% in the 4th quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 162,167 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,106,000 after purchasing an additional 74,774 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.