Stifel Nicolaus Reaffirms Buy Rating for Criteo (NASDAQ:CRTO)

Stifel Nicolaus restated their buy rating on shares of Criteo (NASDAQ:CRTO) in a report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. Stifel Nicolaus currently has a $61.00 price target on the information services provider’s stock, up from their prior price target of $59.00.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Criteo from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. DA Davidson increased their target price on shares of Criteo from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Criteo from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Susquehanna lowered their price objective on shares of Criteo from $50.00 to $36.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Criteo from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Criteo has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $52.90.

Criteo Trading Up 1.6 %

CRTO opened at $45.89 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $40.15 and a 200 day moving average of $41.60. The company has a market cap of $2.53 billion, a PE ratio of 31.22 and a beta of 1.05. Criteo has a 12 month low of $30.11 and a 12 month high of $49.93.

Criteo (NASDAQ:CRTO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The information services provider reported $1.41 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.37 by $0.04. Criteo had a net margin of 4.52% and a return on equity of 15.56%. Research analysts forecast that Criteo will post 2.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Megan Clarken sold 9,284 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.36, for a total transaction of $374,702.24. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 509,145 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,549,092.20. The trade was a 1.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Brian Gleason sold 3,135 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.95, for a total transaction of $115,838.25. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 139,085 shares in the company, valued at $5,139,190.75. The trade was a 2.20 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 21,541 shares of company stock valued at $860,406 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 1.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Criteo

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CRTO. Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Criteo during the second quarter valued at approximately $1,327,000. Handelsbanken Fonder AB grew its position in Criteo by 17.7% during the third quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 13,300 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $535,000 after buying an additional 2,000 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in Criteo by 117.8% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,607 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $65,000 after buying an additional 869 shares during the period. USA Financial Formulas bought a new stake in Criteo during the third quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in Criteo by 99.5% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,689 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $139,000 after buying an additional 1,840 shares during the period. 94.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.