PubMatic (NASDAQ:PUBM) Upgraded by Wall Street Zen to "Hold" Rating

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen upgraded PubMatic from a "sell" to a "hold," and multiple other firms have recently raised ratings, leaving the consensus as a "Moderate Buy" with a $12.63 average price target.
• PubMatic beat quarterly expectations (EPS $0.29 vs. $0.16 estimate; revenue $80.05M vs. $76.12M) but still reports a negative net margin and negative return on equity.
• There has been notable insider selling

PubMatic (NASDAQ:PUBM - Get Free Report) was upgraded by investment analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday.

Several other equities analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Lake Street Capital raised PubMatic from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Weiss Ratings reissued a "sell (d)" rating on shares of PubMatic in a research report on Tuesday. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $21.00 target price on shares of PubMatic in a research report on Thursday. Wolfe Research reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $14.00 target price on shares of PubMatic in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Finally, B. Riley Financial raised shares of PubMatic from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price target for the company from $10.00 to $10.50 in a report on Friday, February 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $12.63.

PubMatic Price Performance

NASDAQ PUBM opened at $9.62 on Friday. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $8.22 and its 200 day moving average price is $8.30. PubMatic has a 1 year low of $6.15 and a 1 year high of $13.88. The company has a market cap of $455.99 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -31.03 and a beta of 1.48.

PubMatic (NASDAQ:PUBM - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $0.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.16 by $0.13. PubMatic had a negative return on equity of 5.64% and a negative net margin of 5.11%.The firm had revenue of $80.05 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $76.12 million. Research analysts expect that PubMatic will post -0.42 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other PubMatic news, General Counsel Andrew Woods sold 5,710 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.17, for a total value of $46,650.70. Following the sale, the general counsel directly owned 69,882 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $570,935.94. This represents a 7.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Rajeev K. Goel sold 44,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, April 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.65, for a total transaction of $380,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 21,206 shares in the company, valued at approximately $183,431.90. The trade was a 67.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 367,474 shares of company stock valued at $2,849,632 in the last 90 days. 26.42% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On PubMatic

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Roubaix Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of PubMatic during the 3rd quarter worth about $2,247,000. Acuitas Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of PubMatic by 142.8% during the 3rd quarter. Acuitas Investments LLC now owns 355,651 shares of the company's stock worth $2,945,000 after acquiring an additional 209,159 shares in the last quarter. CenterBook Partners LP boosted its stake in shares of PubMatic by 239.0% during the 3rd quarter. CenterBook Partners LP now owns 748,460 shares of the company's stock worth $6,197,000 after acquiring an additional 527,650 shares in the last quarter. Leibman Financial Services Inc. boosted its stake in shares of PubMatic by 10.3% during the 4th quarter. Leibman Financial Services Inc. now owns 115,610 shares of the company's stock worth $1,025,000 after acquiring an additional 10,786 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pinnacle Holdings LLC boosted its stake in shares of PubMatic by 7.8% during the 3rd quarter. Pinnacle Holdings LLC now owns 138,822 shares of the company's stock worth $1,149,000 after acquiring an additional 9,997 shares in the last quarter. 64.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About PubMatic

PubMatic is a cloud-based digital advertising technology company that provides a supply-side platform (SSP) enabling publishers to automate and optimize the sale of their ad inventory across display, mobile, video and connected TV channels. Its core offerings include real-time bidding infrastructure, header bidding solutions under the OpenWrap brand and data analytics tools that deliver actionable insights on audience engagement and monetization performance. By facilitating seamless auctions and providing transparent reporting, PubMatic helps publishers maximize yield while improving buyer experiences.

Founded in 2006 by Rajeev Goel and a team of ad-tech veterans, PubMatic grew from an early entrant in programmatic selling to a publicly traded company, listing on the Nasdaq symbol: PUBM in December 2020.

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