Circle Internet Group (NYSE:CRCL) Shares Down 7.6% – Time to Sell?

Circle Internet Group, Inc. (NYSE:CRCL) shares traded down 7.6% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $59.46 and last traded at $59.3870. 5,188,025 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 65% from the average session volume of 14,809,045 shares. The stock had previously closed at $64.24.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Circle Internet Group from $80.00 to $106.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 19th. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Circle Internet Group in a research note on Thursday, June 11th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on shares of Circle Internet Group from $138.00 to $100.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 13th. Mizuho set a $45.00 target price on shares of Circle Internet Group and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Circle Internet Group from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Saturday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Circle Internet Group presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $109.81.

Circle Internet Group Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $15.55 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of -19.55. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $76.03 and a 200 day moving average price of $86.60.

Circle Internet Group (NYSE:CRCL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 11th. The company reported $0.21 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.27 by ($0.06). Circle Internet Group had a negative net margin of 2.76% and a positive return on equity of 2.89%. The business had revenue of $694.13 million for the quarter. The company’s revenue was up 20.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Circle Internet Group, Inc. will post 0.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, President Heath Tarbert sold 39,240 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.47, for a total transaction of $3,196,882.80. Following the completion of the sale, the president owned 502,558 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $40,943,400.26. This represents a 7.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Patrick Sean Neville sold 1,034,396 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.87, for a total transaction of $85,720,396.52. Following the sale, the director owned 2,018 shares in the company, valued at approximately $167,231.66. The trade was a 99.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 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 three months, insiders have sold 1,914,327 shares of company stock valued at $151,802,213. 10.85% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Circle Internet Group

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. lifted its stake in Circle Internet Group by 17.8% in the 4th quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 255,222 shares of the company’s stock valued at $20,239,000 after acquiring an additional 38,567 shares in the last quarter. Travelers Companies Inc. acquired a new position in Circle Internet Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $9,557,000. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Circle Internet Group by 98.2% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 2,575,684 shares of the company’s stock worth $204,252,000 after acquiring an additional 1,276,310 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp bought a new position in shares of Circle Internet Group during the 1st quarter worth approximately $7,282,000. Finally, Alberta Investment Management Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Circle Internet Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,027,000.

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.