VELA Investment Management LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Criteo S.A. (NASDAQ:CRTO)

VELA Investment Management LLC grew its position in Criteo S.A. (NASDAQ:CRTO) by 20.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 188,744 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 31,758 shares during the quarter. Criteo accounts for 2.1% of VELA Investment Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 6th largest holding. VELA Investment Management LLC owned about 0.33% of Criteo worth $6,683,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in CRTO. Vega Investment Solutions acquired a new stake in Criteo during the fourth quarter worth about $41,000. Wells Fargo & Company MN lifted its position in shares of Criteo by 53.2% in the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 4,192 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $166,000 after acquiring an additional 1,455 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of Criteo in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $210,000. Trexquant Investment LP purchased a new position in Criteo during the fourth quarter worth approximately $220,000. Finally, Assetmark Inc. lifted its position in Criteo by 9.9% during the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 6,174 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $244,000 after buying an additional 558 shares in the last quarter. 94.27% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Criteo

In other Criteo news, insider Ryan Damon sold 2,132 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.81, for a total value of $55,026.92. Following the sale, the insider owned 132,002 shares in the company, valued at $3,406,971.62. This trade represents a 1.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Sarah Js Glickman sold 2,465 shares of Criteo stock in a transaction on Friday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.81, for a total transaction of $63,621.65. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 362,710 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,361,545.10. This trade represents a 0.68% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 12,707 shares of company stock valued at $351,786 over the last three months. 1.66% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Criteo Price Performance

CRTO opened at $24.95 on Friday. Criteo S.A. has a one year low of $23.24 and a one year high of $49.93. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $26.70 and its 200-day simple moving average is $33.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.14 and a beta of 0.48.

Criteo (NASDAQ:CRTO) last announced its earnings results on Friday, May 2nd. The information services provider reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.33. Criteo had a net margin of 7.41% and a return on equity of 18.21%. The firm had revenue of $451.43 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $259.86 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.80 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Criteo S.A. will post 3.09 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on CRTO. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Criteo from $68.00 to $66.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on Criteo from $61.00 to $46.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Citigroup reissued an “underperform” rating on shares of Criteo in a report on Friday, April 25th. DA Davidson reduced their price objective on Criteo from $57.00 to $42.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, Susquehanna lowered their price target on Criteo from $50.00 to $38.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Criteo presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.70.

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.