Criteo (NASDAQ:CRTO) Given “Buy” Rating at Benchmark

Criteo (NASDAQ:CRTO)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reiterated by equities researchers at Benchmark in a research report issued on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $40.00 target price on the information services provider’s stock. Benchmark’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 13.80% from the stock’s previous close.

Other analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. DA Davidson raised their price target on Criteo from $27.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. TheStreet raised Criteo from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Friday, February 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Criteo from $27.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Wells Fargo & Company raised Criteo from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $28.00 to $41.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Criteo from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $35.22.

Criteo Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of CRTO opened at $35.15 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $1.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.49 and a beta of 0.95. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $34.58 and a 200-day moving average of $29.02. Criteo has a 52 week low of $22.10 and a 52 week high of $37.38.

Criteo (NASDAQ:CRTO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The information services provider reported $1.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.30. The business had revenue of $316.38 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $300.35 million. Criteo had a return on equity of 10.42% and a net margin of 2.73%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Criteo will post 2.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Megan Clarken sold 23,331 shares of Criteo stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.04, for a total value of $770,856.24. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 383,858 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,682,668.32. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, insider Ryan Damon sold 7,959 shares of Criteo stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.69, for a total value of $260,179.71. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 144,545 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,725,176.05. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Megan Clarken sold 23,331 shares of Criteo stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.04, for a total value of $770,856.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 383,858 shares in the company, valued at $12,682,668.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 88,607 shares of company stock worth $2,932,315. 1.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Criteo

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Citigroup Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Criteo during the third quarter valued at $33,000. Mather Group LLC. purchased a new position in shares of Criteo during the first quarter valued at $48,000. Barometer Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Criteo during the fourth quarter valued at $119,000. FNY Investment Advisers LLC grew its holdings in shares of Criteo by 300.0% during the fourth quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC now owns 6,000 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $151,000 after buying an additional 4,500 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Criteo during the first quarter valued at $227,000. 94.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.