Criteo S.A. (NASDAQ:CRTO) Short Interest Update

Criteo S.A. (NASDAQ:CRTO) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest during the month of August. As of August 14th, there was short interest totaling 1,586,039 shares, a growth of 47.7% from the July 30th total of 1,073,598 shares. Approximately 3.3% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 838,289 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.9 days.

Criteo Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CRTO traded up $0.54 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $17.95. 90,323 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 451,477. Criteo has a 12-month low of $15.57 and a 12-month high of $25.29. The firm has a market cap of $879.30 million, a P/E ratio of 9.11 and a beta of 0.28. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $19.72 and a 200 day moving average price of $18.54.

Criteo (NASDAQ:CRTO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The information services provider reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.71 by $0.09. Criteo had a net margin of 5.60% and a return on equity of 14.33%. The business had revenue of $428.02 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $263.40 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.92 earnings per share. Criteo’s quarterly revenue was down 11.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Criteo will post 2.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Criteo

In other news, CEO Michael Komasinski sold 15,559 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.23, for a total value of $268,081.57. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 345,547 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,953,774.81. This represents a 4.31% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CFO Sarah Js Glickman sold 6,285 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.23, for a total transaction of $108,290.55. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 424,612 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,316,064.76. This represents a 1.46% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. In the last three months, insiders have sold 30,725 shares of company stock valued at $529,527. Corporate insiders own 1.52% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Criteo

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CRTO. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its holdings in Criteo by 1,376.7% in the first quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,270 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 1,184 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Criteo by 7.2% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 16,313 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $391,000 after buying an additional 1,094 shares in the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd grew its position in shares of Criteo by 145.0% in the 2nd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 432,881 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $10,372,000 after buying an additional 256,227 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its position in shares of Criteo by 41.6% in the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 8,587 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $206,000 after buying an additional 2,524 shares during the period. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its stake in shares of Criteo by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 4,411,988 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $105,711,000 after acquiring an additional 82,134 shares in the last quarter. 94.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on CRTO. BMO Capital Markets set a $20.00 target price on Criteo in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $24.00 price target on shares of Criteo in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Criteo in a report on Friday, August 14th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $18.00 price objective (down from $34.00) on shares of Criteo in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Benchmark reduced their target price on Criteo from $25.00 to $21.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Criteo currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $22.65.

About Criteo

Criteo is a global technology company specializing in digital performance advertising and commerce media solutions. The company provides a range of AI-driven ad products designed to help brands, retailers, and agencies deliver personalized promotional messages to consumers across web, mobile, and connected TV environments. By leveraging large-scale data analytics and machine learning algorithms, Criteo’s platform optimizes the timing, placement, and creative of ads to drive engagement and conversions.

At the core of Criteo’s offering is its dynamic retargeting solution, which enables advertisers to automatically generate and display personalized product recommendations based on user behavior.