Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Buys 342,080 Shares of Circle Internet Group, Inc. $CRCL

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its stake in Circle Internet Group, Inc. (NYSE:CRCL) by 13.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,917,764 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 342,080 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned about 1.18% of Circle Internet Group worth $278,384,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of CRCL. WPG Advisers LLC acquired a new position in shares of Circle Internet Group during the first quarter valued at about $31,000. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Circle Internet Group in the 1st quarter valued at about $273,000. Hodges Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Circle Internet Group in the 1st quarter valued at about $9,115,000. Ascentis Independent Advisors bought a new stake in Circle Internet Group in the 1st quarter valued at about $830,000. Finally, Praxis Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in Circle Internet Group in the 1st quarter valued at about $340,000.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Jeremy Allaire sold 56,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.93, for a total transaction of $4,660,666.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 510,579 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,342,316.47. This trade represents a 9.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Nikhil Chandhok sold 489,737 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.37, for a total transaction of $35,442,266.69. Following the transaction, the insider owned 521,809 shares in the company, valued at approximately $37,763,317.33. This trade represents a 48.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,954,861 shares of company stock worth $156,473,563. Company insiders own 10.85% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CRCL has been the topic of several recent research reports. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Circle Internet Group in a report on Monday, April 20th. Clear Str raised Circle Internet Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 16th. Freedom Capital upgraded Circle Internet Group to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Circle Internet Group from $80.00 to $106.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 19th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Circle Internet Group from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $117.38.

Circle Internet Group Stock Down 1.5%

CRCL stock opened at $64.18 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.95 billion and a PE ratio of -20.06. Circle Internet Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $49.90 and a twelve month high of $262.97. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $92.78 and its 200-day moving average is $88.84.

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

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.