Investors Buy Large Volume of Call Options on Criteo (NASDAQ:CRTO)

Criteo S.A. (NASDAQ:CRTO) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Monday. Investors purchased 10,026 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 715% compared to the average daily volume of 1,230 call options.

Criteo Stock Performance

Shares of CRTO opened at $35.70 on Wednesday. Criteo has a twelve month low of $22.10 and a twelve month high of $39.97. The firm has a market cap of $2.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.80 and a beta of 0.95. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $37.02 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $32.29.

Criteo (NASDAQ:CRTO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The information services provider reported $0.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.30 by $0.14. Criteo had a net margin of 2.96% and a return on equity of 12.33%. The company had revenue of $253.89 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $246.10 million. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Criteo will post 2.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Criteo news, CFO Sarah Js Glickman sold 5,504 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.40, for a total value of $194,841.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 327,232 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,584,012.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, major shareholder Till Hufnagel acquired 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 14th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $37.67 per share, for a total transaction of $226,020.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 1,777,425 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $66,955,599.75. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Sarah Js Glickman sold 5,504 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.40, for a total transaction of $194,841.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 327,232 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,584,012.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 41,672 shares of company stock worth $1,561,239 in the last quarter. 1.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Criteo

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Criteo during the fourth quarter worth $669,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC acquired a new position in Criteo during the fourth quarter worth about $1,580,000. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its stake in Criteo by 17.8% during the third quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 120,061 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,506,000 after acquiring an additional 18,128 shares in the last quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd acquired a new position in Criteo during the fourth quarter worth about $660,000. Finally, Cadian Capital Management LP raised its stake in Criteo by 70.4% during the fourth quarter. Cadian Capital Management LP now owns 4,239,314 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $107,339,000 after acquiring an additional 1,751,511 shares in the last quarter. 94.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on CRTO. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Criteo from $31.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $40.00 target price on shares of Criteo in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of Criteo from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. DA Davidson lifted their price objective on shares of Criteo from $35.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Susquehanna lifted their price objective on shares of Criteo from $33.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, May 6th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $39.44.

About Criteo

Criteo SA, a technology company, provides marketing and monetization services on the open Internet in North and South America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia-Pacific. The company's Criteo Shopper Graph, which derives clients' proprietary commerce data, such as transaction activity on their digital properties.