Circle Internet Group (NYSE:CRCL) Stock Price Up 6% – Still a Buy?

Shares of Circle Internet Group, Inc. (NYSE:CRCL) shot up 6% on Friday . The company traded as high as $71.97 and last traded at $72.9270. Approximately 1,984,837 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 87% from the average session volume of 14,954,150 shares. The stock had previously closed at $68.81.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CRCL has been the subject of a number of research reports. Freedom Capital upgraded shares of Circle Internet Group to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Zacks Research raised shares of Circle Internet Group from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 17th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Circle Internet Group from $110.00 to $138.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 17th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Circle Internet Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 11th. Finally, KeyCorp initiated coverage on Circle Internet Group in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. They issued a “sector weight” rating for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Circle Internet Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $134.18.

Circle Internet Group Price Performance

The stock’s 50 day moving average is $99.16 and its two-hundred day moving average is $89.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.26 billion and a PE ratio of -22.86.

Circle Internet Group (NYSE:CRCL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 11th. The company reported $0.21 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.27 by ($0.06). Circle Internet Group had a positive return on equity of 2.89% and a negative net margin of 2.76%.The firm had revenue of $694.13 million for the quarter. The firm’s revenue was up 20.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Circle Internet Group, Inc. will post 1.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Nikhil Chandhok sold 26,666 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.75, for a total value of $2,233,277.50. Following the transaction, the insider owned 521,809 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $43,701,503.75. This represents a 4.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Jeremy Allaire sold 56,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.93, for a total value of $4,660,666.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 510,579 shares in the company, valued at approximately $42,342,316.47. This represents a 9.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 1,405,984 shares of company stock valued at $118,860,837. Insiders own 10.85% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of CRCL. Creative Planning purchased a new position in shares of Circle Internet Group in the 2nd quarter valued at $295,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership purchased a new position in shares of Circle Internet Group during the second quarter worth approximately $1,474,000. Invesco Ltd. acquired a new stake in Circle Internet Group during the 2nd quarter worth $47,640,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Circle Internet Group in the second quarter valued at $27,000. Finally, Baird Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Circle Internet Group in the second quarter valued at about $2,649,000.

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.