Short Interest in Criteo S.A. (NASDAQ:CRTO) Decreases By 55.3%

Key Points

• Short interest in Criteo S.A. decreased by 55.3% in July, dropping from 929,400 shares to 415,700 shares, with a days-to-cover ratio of 0.8 days.
• Insider transactions revealed that executives Ryan Damon and Brian Gleason sold shares, resulting in a combined reduction of 1.59% and 1.83% in their ownership positions, respectively.
• Criteo recently reported $0.92 EPS for the quarter, exceeding analyst expectations of $0.70, alongside a revenue of $292 million that surpassed estimates of $274.62 million.

Criteo S.A. (NASDAQ:CRTO - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a large decline in short interest during the month of July. As of July 31st, there was short interest totaling 415,700 shares, adeclineof55.3% from the July 15th total of 929,400 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 489,900 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 0.8 days. Currently,0.7% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Currently,0.7% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 489,900 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 0.8 days.

Insider Activity at Criteo

In other news, insider Ryan Damon sold 2,132 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.81, for a total transaction of $55,026.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 132,002 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,406,971.62. This represents a 1.59% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Brian Gleason sold 2,842 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.85, for a total transaction of $64,939.70. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 152,122 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,475,987.70. This represents a 1.83% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 12,708 shares of company stock valued at $320,444. 1.66% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Criteo

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vega Investment Solutions purchased a new position in shares of Criteo during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Criteo during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its stake in shares of Criteo by 1,376.7% during the 1st quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,270 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 1,184 shares during the last quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of Criteo by 21.4% during 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 buying an additional 426 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Criteo by 81.2% during the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,878 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $69,000 after buying an additional 1,290 shares during the last quarter. 94.27% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Criteo Trading Down 2.0%

NASDAQ CRTO opened at $23.75 on Friday. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $23.97 and its 200-day simple moving average is $30.41. Criteo has a 52 week low of $22.43 and a 52 week high of $49.93. The stock has a market cap of $1.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.94 and a beta of 0.43.

Criteo (NASDAQ:CRTO - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The information services provider reported $0.92 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.70 by $0.22. Criteo had a net margin of 7.10% and a return on equity of 16.91%. The business had revenue of $292.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $274.62 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.08 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Criteo will post 3.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on CRTO. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Criteo from $54.00 to $40.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 29th. Susquehanna dropped their target price on shares of Criteo from $50.00 to $38.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Criteo from $40.00 to $36.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of Criteo from $42.00 to $41.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Criteo from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $40.00.

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.

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