Criteo (NASDAQ:CRTO) Shares Gap Down on Analyst Downgrade

Criteo S.A. (NASDAQ:CRTO - Get Free Report)'s share price gapped down before the market opened on Friday after Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on the stock from $68.00 to $66.00. The stock had previously closed at $33.43, but opened at $28.17. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Criteo shares last traded at $30.00, with a volume of 816,925 shares.

Other analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. DA Davidson increased their price objective on shares of Criteo from $53.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Benchmark reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $51.00 price objective on shares of Criteo in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Criteo from $44.00 to $40.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Citigroup reaffirmed an "underperform" rating on shares of Criteo in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Criteo from $48.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Criteo presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $50.90.

Insider Buying and Selling at Criteo

In other news, insider Brian Gleason sold 2,841 shares of Criteo stock in a transaction on Monday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.89, for a total value of $96,281.49. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 157,450 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,335,980.50. The trade was a 1.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Megan Clarken sold 13,823 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.56, for a total value of $602,129.88. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 488,229 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,267,255.24. The trade was a 2.75 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 24,145 shares of company stock worth $1,031,391 over the last three months. Insiders own 1.71% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Criteo

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CRTO. Vega Investment Solutions acquired a new stake in shares of Criteo in the fourth quarter valued at $41,000. TD Private Client Wealth LLC raised its position in Criteo by 21.4% in the 1st quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 2,413 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $85,000 after purchasing an additional 426 shares in the last quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN boosted its stake in shares of Criteo by 53.2% in the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 4,192 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $166,000 after buying an additional 1,455 shares during the period. Palumbo Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Criteo during the fourth quarter worth about $208,000. Finally, Two Sigma Securities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Criteo during the fourth quarter worth approximately $210,000. 94.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Criteo Stock Down 11.8 %

The company's fifty day moving average is $33.86 and its two-hundred day moving average is $37.88. The stock has a market cap of $1.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.54 and a beta of 0.63.

Criteo (NASDAQ:CRTO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 2nd. The information services provider reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.33. Criteo had a net margin of 5.08% and a return on equity of 16.37%. The business had revenue of $451.43 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $259.86 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.80 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Criteo S.A. will post 3.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.