Short Interest in Criteo S.A. (NASDAQ:CRTO) Rises By 47.7%

Criteo S.A. (NASDAQ:CRTO) was the target 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. Based on an average daily volume of 838,289 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.9 days. Currently, 3.3% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Criteo Stock Up 5.1%

Criteo stock opened at $18.30 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $19.73 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $18.54. The stock has a market cap of $896.70 million, a P/E ratio of 9.29 and a beta of 0.27. Criteo has a twelve month low of $15.57 and a twelve month high of $25.29.

Criteo (NASDAQ:CRTO) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The information services provider reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.71 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $428.02 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $263.40 million. Criteo had a return on equity of 14.33% and a net margin of 5.60%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.92 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Criteo will post 2.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on CRTO. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Criteo in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Zacks Research cut shares of Criteo from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Monday, August 24th. BMO Capital Markets set a $20.00 price target on shares of Criteo in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Benchmark reduced their price objective on shares of Criteo from $25.00 to $21.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, Huber Research downgraded Criteo from an “overweight” rating to an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 24th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $22.65.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Criteo news, insider Ryan Damon sold 6,178 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.23, for a total value of $106,446.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 167,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,890,590.95. The trade was a 3.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CEO Michael Komasinski sold 15,559 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.23, for a total transaction of $268,081.57. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 345,547 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,953,774.81. This represents a 4.31% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders have sold 30,725 shares of company stock valued at $529,527 in the last 90 days. 1.52% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Criteo

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in Criteo by 21.6% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,723,794 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $97,357,000 after acquiring an additional 838,523 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC lifted its stake in Criteo by 226.7% during the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,097,465 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $24,803,000 after purchasing an additional 761,565 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Criteo in the 3rd quarter valued at $11,926,000. Nierenberg Investment Management Company LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Criteo by 109.2% in the 4th quarter. Nierenberg Investment Management Company LLC now owns 888,888 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $18,320,000 after purchasing an additional 463,929 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pillsbury Lake Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Criteo in the 4th quarter valued at $9,486,000. 94.27% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.