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

Criteo (NASDAQ:CRTO) was downgraded by Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a note issued to investors on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other research analysts have also recently weighed in on CRTO. DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and issued a $24.00 price target on shares of Criteo in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Criteo from $29.00 to $25.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded Criteo from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $35.00 to $20.50 in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Criteo in a report on Friday, July 17th. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Criteo in a research report on Friday, August 14th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $22.65.

Criteo Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CRTO opened at $17.30 on Monday. Criteo has a fifty-two week low of $15.57 and a fifty-two week high of $25.29. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $19.71 and a 200 day moving average price of $18.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $847.70 million, a P/E ratio of 8.78 and a beta of 0.29.

Criteo (NASDAQ:CRTO) last released its earnings results 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 return on equity of 14.33% and a net margin of 5.60%.The firm had revenue of $428.02 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $263.40 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.92 EPS. Criteo’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Criteo will post 2.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Criteo news, insider Ryan Damon sold 6,178 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 value of $106,446.94. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 167,765 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,890,590.95. This trade represents a 3.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 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 business’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 $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 trade represents a 1.46% 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 a total of 28,022 shares of company stock valued at $482,819 in the last 90 days. 1.52% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Criteo

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in shares of Criteo by 21.6% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,723,794 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $97,357,000 after buying an additional 838,523 shares during the last quarter. Senvest Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Criteo by 4.5% during the 1st quarter. Senvest Management LLC now owns 4,597,322 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $82,430,000 after purchasing an additional 200,000 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its position in 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 purchasing an additional 82,134 shares during the period. DNB Asset Management AS lifted its stake in Criteo by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 4,258,161 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $87,761,000 after purchasing an additional 121,477 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its position in Criteo by 4.6% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 1,769,644 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $31,774,000 after buying an additional 77,145 shares during the period. 94.27% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Criteo Company Profile

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.