Zacks Research Downgrades Criteo (NASDAQ:CRTO) to Strong Sell

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

A number of other research analysts also recently commented on the company. Wedbush dropped their price objective on Criteo from $30.00 to $25.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 20th. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $18.00 price target (down from $34.00) on shares of Criteo in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target 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. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Criteo in a report on Friday, August 14th. Finally, Huber Research downgraded shares of Criteo from an “overweight” rating to an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday. 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $22.65.

Criteo Trading Up 1.2%

Shares of CRTO stock opened at $17.30 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $19.71 and a 200 day moving average price of $18.60. The company has a market cap of $847.70 million, a P/E ratio of 8.78 and a beta of 0.29. Criteo has a 12 month low of $15.57 and a 12 month high of $25.29.

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

Insider Transactions at Criteo

In other news, CFO Sarah Js Glickman sold 6,285 shares of Criteo stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 6th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $7,316,064.76. The trade was a 1.46% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, insider Ryan Damon sold 6,178 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.23, for a total transaction of $106,446.94. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 167,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,890,590.95. This trade represents a 3.55% 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. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 28,022 shares of company stock worth $482,819. Insiders own 1.52% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Criteo

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

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.