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

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have commented on CRTO shares. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Criteo from $28.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Criteo from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Susquehanna boosted their price target on shares of Criteo from $26.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Criteo from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $28.00 to $41.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, DA Davidson boosted their price target on shares of Criteo from $27.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Criteo has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $36.11.

Criteo Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of CRTO opened at $35.61 on Wednesday. Criteo has a twelve month low of $22.10 and a twelve month high of $36.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.01 and a beta of 0.95. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $33.95 and its two-hundred day moving average is $28.68.

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

Insider Transactions at Criteo

In other news, CEO Megan Clarken sold 36,675 shares of Criteo stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.69, for a total transaction of $1,198,905.75. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 477,637 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,613,953.53. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Megan Clarken sold 36,675 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.69, for a total value of $1,198,905.75. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 477,637 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,613,953.53. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Ryan Damon sold 7,959 shares of Criteo stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.69, for a total transaction of $260,179.71. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 144,545 shares in the company, valued at $4,725,176.05. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 88,607 shares of company stock valued at $2,932,315. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Criteo

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Mather Group LLC. acquired a new stake in shares of Criteo in the first quarter worth $48,000. Orchard Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Criteo by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Orchard Capital Management LLC now owns 453,896 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $11,493,000 after purchasing an additional 14,281 shares in the last quarter. Barometer Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Criteo during the 4th quarter valued at $119,000. Cadian Capital Management LP grew its holdings in Criteo by 70.4% during the 4th quarter. Cadian Capital Management LP now owns 4,239,314 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $107,339,000 after purchasing an additional 1,751,511 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pale Fire Capital SE acquired a new stake in Criteo during the 4th quarter valued at $443,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.27% of the company’s stock.

Criteo Company Profile

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.