Criteo (NASDAQ:CRTO) Lowered to “Strong Sell” Rating by Zacks Research

Zacks Research downgraded shares of Criteo (NASDAQ:CRTO) from a hold rating to a strong sell rating in a report published on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on CRTO. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Criteo in a research report on Friday, August 14th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $18.00 price target (down from $34.00) on shares of Criteo in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Wedbush cut their price objective on Criteo from $30.00 to $25.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered Criteo from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $35.00 to $20.50 in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Criteo in a report on Friday, July 17th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $22.65.

Criteo Stock Up 1.2%

CRTO opened at $17.30 on Monday. Criteo has a 52 week low of $15.57 and a 52 week high of $25.29. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $19.71 and a 200-day simple moving average of $18.60. The firm has a market cap of $847.70 million, a P/E ratio of 8.78 and a beta of 0.29.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Criteo

In other news, CEO Michael Komasinski sold 15,559 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 6th. The stock was 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 directly owned 345,547 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,953,774.81. This trade represents a 4.31% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 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 company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.23, for a total value of $108,290.55. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 424,612 shares in the company, valued at $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 90 days, insiders have sold 28,022 shares of company stock valued at $482,819. 1.52% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Criteo

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. WealthCollab LLC grew its holdings in Criteo by 147.5% during the 1st quarter. WealthCollab LLC now owns 1,371 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 817 shares in the last quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. lifted its holdings in Criteo by 185.8% in the 4th quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 1,446 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 940 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in Criteo by 7.2% in the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 16,313 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $391,000 after buying an additional 1,094 shares in the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its position in Criteo by 1,376.7% in the 1st quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,270 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 1,184 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its position in Criteo by 142.3% in the 3rd quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 2,081 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 1,222 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.27% of the company’s stock.

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.