Circle Internet Group (NYSE:CRCL) Coverage Initiated at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

Key Points

• Keefe, Bruyette & Woods initiated coverage of Circle Internet Group with a “market perform” rating and a $105 price target, implying approximately 3.15% upside.
• Analyst sentiment is broadly cautious: Circle has a consensus “Hold” rating and an average price target of $99.67 from 28 analysts.
• Circle reported quarterly revenue of $701.32 million, up 6.6% year over year, but EPS of $0.18 fell short of the $0.26 consensus estimate; insiders have sold roughly $72.9 million of stock over the past three months.

Keefe, Bruyette & Woods began coverage on shares of Circle Internet Group (NYSE:CRCL - Get Free Report) in a note issued to investors on Tuesday, Briefing.com reports. The brokerage set a "market perform" rating and a $105.00 price target on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods' price objective would suggest a potential upside of 3.15% from the stock's previous close.

Several other research firms have also commented on CRCL. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on shares of Circle Internet Group from $138.00 to $100.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 13th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Circle Internet Group from a "sell (d)" rating to a "sell (d+)" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Susquehanna increased their target price on Circle Internet Group from $69.00 to $92.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, August 24th. Seaport Research Partners set a $100.00 price target on shares of Circle Internet Group in a research note on Monday, August 17th. Finally, Wolfe Research boosted their price objective on Circle Internet Group from $50.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $99.67.

Circle Internet Group Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of Circle Internet Group stock opened at $101.79 on Tuesday. Circle Internet Group has a 12 month low of $49.90 and a 12 month high of $159.47. The firm has a market cap of $25.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 69.72 and a beta of 0.59. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $72.88 and its 200-day moving average price is $89.27.

Circle Internet Group (NYSE:CRCL - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.26 by ($0.08). Circle Internet Group had a net margin of 15.53% and a return on equity of 13.58%. The company had revenue of $701.32 million during the quarter. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($4.48) EPS. Circle Internet Group's revenue was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Circle Internet Group will post 1.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Circle Internet Group

In related news, Director Patrick Neville sold 50,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.09, for a total transaction of $4,604,500.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 2,018 shares in the company, valued at $185,837.62. This trade represents a 96.12% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CAO Tamara Schulz sold 1,194 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.87, for a total value of $104,916.78. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 96,473 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,477,082.51. The trade was a 1.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. In the last three months, insiders have sold 1,003,056 shares of company stock valued at $72,854,050. 10.85% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Circle Internet Group

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. General Catalyst Group Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Circle Internet Group during the 2nd quarter valued at about $3,647,694,000. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its holdings in shares of Circle Internet Group by 222,662.5% during the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 13,871,418 shares of the company's stock worth $868,767,000 after purchasing an additional 13,865,191 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Circle Internet Group by 23.8% in the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 9,978,729 shares of the company's stock worth $791,313,000 after purchasing an additional 1,919,205 shares during the last quarter. IDG Accel China Capital II Associates L.P. bought a new position in shares of Circle Internet Group during the fourth quarter worth about $554,792,000. Finally, Accel XI Associates L.L.C. acquired a new stake in Circle Internet Group in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $513,844,000.

About Circle Internet Group

Circle Internet Group NYSE: CRCL is a financial technology company that builds infrastructure to enable businesses and developers to use and move money on public blockchains. Co-founded by Jeremy Allaire and Sean Neville, the company is best known as a principal issuer and steward of USDC, a dollar-pegged stablecoin developed through the CENTRE Consortium, which Circle co-founded with Coinbase. Jeremy Allaire serves as CEO and has been a visible leader in the company’s strategy and public engagement around digital currency and payments innovation.

Circle’s core products and services center on digital currency issuance and programmable payments.

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