Magnite Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NASDAQ:MGNI)

Magnite, Inc. (NASDAQ:MGNI) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Investors bought 21,482 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 657% compared to the average daily volume of 2,837 call options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on MGNI. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Magnite in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Magnite from $22.00 to $20.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 7th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $39.00 price target on shares of Magnite in a report on Thursday, November 6th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Magnite from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Magnite in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $27.00.

Insider Activity at Magnite

In other Magnite news, insider Adam Lee Soroca sold 16,656 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.00, for a total value of $283,152.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 326,114 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,543,938. This trade represents a 4.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Sean Patrick Buckley sold 4,426 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.36, for a total value of $59,131.36. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 271,125 shares in the company, valued at $3,622,230. This trade represents a 1.61% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 49,439 shares of company stock worth $763,671 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 3.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Magnite

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Magnite by 8.1% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,654,432 shares of the company’s stock worth $319,174,000 after purchasing an additional 1,092,147 shares during the period. Boston Partners raised its holdings in Magnite by 5.7% in the second quarter. Boston Partners now owns 5,574,604 shares of the company’s stock valued at $133,037,000 after buying an additional 298,248 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in Magnite by 63.1% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 4,829,197 shares of the company’s stock valued at $116,480,000 after buying an additional 1,868,188 shares in the last quarter. Granahan Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Magnite by 6.3% during the third quarter. Granahan Investment Management LLC now owns 3,873,179 shares of the company’s stock worth $84,358,000 after buying an additional 230,393 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Magnite by 6.0% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,216,842 shares of the company’s stock worth $77,597,000 after buying an additional 183,414 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.40% of the company’s stock.

Magnite Trading Down 3.4%

Shares of MGNI stock opened at $14.29 on Thursday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $15.40 and its 200-day simple moving average is $19.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.01. Magnite has a 1-year low of $8.22 and a 1-year high of $26.65. The firm has a market cap of $2.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.61, a PEG ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 2.35.

Magnite (NASDAQ:MGNI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported $0.20 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.20. The firm had revenue of $179.49 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $163.29 million. Magnite had a net margin of 8.25% and a return on equity of 8.74%. Magnite’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.17 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Magnite will post 0.33 EPS for the current year.

About Magnite

Magnite, Inc (NASDAQ: MGNI) operates as an independent sell-side advertising platform that enables publishers and digital media owners to monetize their inventory through programmatic advertising. Formed in 2020 through the merger of Rubicon Project and Telaria, Magnite combines technologies for desktop, mobile, connected television (CTV) and digital out-of-home (DOOH) ad exchanges. The company provides an end-to-end solution designed to help media owners optimize yield across open marketplaces, private marketplaces and programmatic guaranteed deals.

At the core of Magnite’s offering is its supply-side platform (SSP), which connects publishers’ ad impressions to demand-side platforms (DSPs) through real-time bidding (RTB).