Criteo (NASDAQ:CRTO) Shares Up 8.6% - Time to Buy?

Criteo S.A. (NASDAQ:CRTO - Get Free Report) shares traded up 8.6% on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $32.85 and last traded at $32.15. 262,597 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 39% from the average session volume of 428,616 shares. The stock had previously closed at $29.60.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on CRTO. Benchmark reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $51.00 target price on shares of Criteo in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. StockNews.com cut shares of Criteo from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Morgan Stanley decreased 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 reiterated an "underperform" rating on shares of Criteo in a research note on Friday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Criteo from $48.00 to $39.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Criteo has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $49.64.

Criteo Stock Up 2.7 %

The company has a market cap of $2.02 billion, a PE ratio of 20.77 and a beta of 0.74. The stock's 50 day moving average is $34.76 and its 200-day moving average is $38.18.

Criteo (NASDAQ:CRTO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 return on equity of 16.37% and a net margin of 5.08%. On average, analysts anticipate that Criteo S.A. will post 3.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Megan Clarken sold 13,823 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.56, for a total transaction of $602,129.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 488,229 shares in the company, valued at $21,267,255.24. The trade was a 2.75 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Brian Gleason sold 1,924 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.08, for a total transaction of $73,265.92. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 137,161 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,223,090.88. This represents a 1.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 26,363 shares of company stock valued at $1,124,213 in the last ninety days. 1.71% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Criteo

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CRTO. Vega Investment Solutions bought a new stake in shares of Criteo in the fourth quarter valued at about $41,000. Wells Fargo & Company MN increased its position in Criteo by 53.2% during the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 4,192 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $166,000 after purchasing an additional 1,455 shares during the period. Palumbo Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Criteo in the 4th quarter valued at about $208,000. Two Sigma Securities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Criteo in the 4th quarter worth approximately $210,000. Finally, Trexquant Investment LP bought a new position in shares of Criteo during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $220,000. Institutional investors 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.