TD Cowen Lowers MediaAlpha (NYSE:MAX) Price Target to $11.00

MediaAlpha (NYSE:MAX) had its target price lowered by investment analysts at TD Cowen from $13.00 to $11.00 in a report released on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “hold” rating on the stock. TD Cowen’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 3.92% from the company’s current price.

MAX has been the subject of a number of other reports. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of MediaAlpha from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 16th. Capital One Financial set a $11.00 price objective on shares of MediaAlpha in a research report on Tuesday, June 9th. Texas Capital upgraded shares of MediaAlpha to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 9th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of MediaAlpha from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of MediaAlpha from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $12.36.

MediaAlpha Price Performance

MediaAlpha stock traded up $0.41 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $10.59. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 137,167 shares, compared to its average volume of 716,154. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $9.21 and its 200 day moving average is $10.09. The company has a market cap of $659.97 million, a PE ratio of 16.55 and a beta of 1.16. MediaAlpha has a 52-week low of $7.09 and a 52-week high of $13.92.

MediaAlpha (NYSE:MAX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.21 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by ($0.04). MediaAlpha had a negative return on equity of 147.82% and a net margin of 3.37%.The business had revenue of $310.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $298.91 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($0.04) earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 17.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that MediaAlpha will post 1.02 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Steven Yi sold 33,663 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.99, for a total transaction of $336,293.37. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 2,924,994 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,220,690.06. This trade represents a 1.14% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, Director Eugene Nonko sold 49,844 shares of MediaAlpha stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.04, for a total value of $500,433.76. Following the sale, the director owned 1,329,099 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,344,153.96. This represents a 3.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 510,912 shares of company stock worth $5,020,336. Insiders own 14.65% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of MediaAlpha

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Millennium Management LLC lifted its stake in MediaAlpha by 680.9% in the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,429,556 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,268,000 after acquiring an additional 1,246,493 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of MediaAlpha by 1,261.9% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 710,819 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,089,000 after purchasing an additional 658,625 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of MediaAlpha by 95.2% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,058,441 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,045,000 after purchasing an additional 516,195 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MediaAlpha in the 2nd quarter valued at $4,268,000. Finally, Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of MediaAlpha by 831.7% in the 3rd quarter. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC now owns 353,930 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,028,000 after purchasing an additional 315,943 shares during the last quarter. 64.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About MediaAlpha

MediaAlpha, Inc is a technology company that operates a real-time digital marketplace for the distribution of insurance and adjacent services. The company’s platform connects buyers—consumers seeking insurance policies—to sellers, including insurance carriers and distribution partners, through programmatic bidding and data-driven pricing. By leveraging transaction-level data and proprietary auction mechanics, MediaAlpha enables carriers to acquire customers more efficiently and at scale.

The firm offers a suite of products that help clients optimize marketing spend and improve conversion rates.