Insider Selling: MediaAlpha (NYSE:MAX) Insider Sells 4,000 Shares of Stock

MediaAlpha, Inc. (NYSE:MAX) insider Steven Yi sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.05, for a total value of $36,200.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 2,887,690 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,133,594.50. The trade was a 0.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 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.

Steven Yi also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Wednesday, May 6th, Steven Yi sold 4,000 shares of MediaAlpha stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.14, for a total transaction of $36,560.00.
• On Wednesday, April 29th, Steven Yi sold 26,739 shares of MediaAlpha stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.00, for a total transaction of $267,390.00.
• On Tuesday, April 28th, Steven Yi sold 6,565 shares of MediaAlpha stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.00, for a total transaction of $65,650.00.
• On Monday, April 27th, Steven Yi sold 33,663 shares of MediaAlpha stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.99, for a total transaction of $336,293.37.
• On Wednesday, April 22nd, Steven Yi sold 4,000 shares of MediaAlpha stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.88, for a total transaction of $39,520.00.
• On Tuesday, April 21st, Steven Yi sold 16,047 shares of MediaAlpha stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.08, for a total transaction of $161,753.76.
• On Monday, April 20th, Steven Yi sold 28,543 shares of MediaAlpha stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.06, for a total value of $287,142.58.
• On Wednesday, April 15th, Steven Yi sold 4,000 shares of MediaAlpha stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.68, for a total value of $38,720.00.
• On Monday, April 13th, Steven Yi sold 4,000 shares of MediaAlpha stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.07, for a total value of $36,280.00.
• On Wednesday, April 8th, Steven Yi sold 4,000 shares of MediaAlpha stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.78, for a total value of $39,120.00.

MediaAlpha Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MAX traded down $0.46 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $8.99. The stock had a trading volume of 622,696 shares, compared to its average volume of 779,699. The company has a market cap of $579.92 million, a P/E ratio of 14.05 and a beta of 1.16. MediaAlpha, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $7.09 and a fifty-two week high of $13.92. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $9.61 and its 200-day moving average price is $10.84.

MediaAlpha (NYSE:MAX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.25 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $310.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $298.91 million. MediaAlpha had a negative return on equity of 147.82% and a net margin of 3.37%.MediaAlpha’s revenue was up 17.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.04) EPS. Analysts forecast that MediaAlpha, Inc. will post 1.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on MAX. Zacks Research cut shares of MediaAlpha from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of MediaAlpha from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on shares of MediaAlpha from $16.00 to $15.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 7th. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price objective on MediaAlpha from $18.00 to $11.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on MediaAlpha from $13.50 to $11.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 24th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, MediaAlpha has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $12.90.

Institutional Trading of MediaAlpha

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in MediaAlpha by 680.9% during the 3rd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,429,556 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,268,000 after buying an additional 1,246,493 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in MediaAlpha by 29.2% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,367,896 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,714,000 after buying an additional 309,455 shares during the last quarter. Clearline Capital LP boosted its holdings in shares of MediaAlpha by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Clearline Capital LP now owns 1,301,453 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,854,000 after acquiring an additional 10,604 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its holdings in shares of MediaAlpha by 10.6% in the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,045,400 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,538,000 after acquiring an additional 100,300 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of MediaAlpha by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 804,095 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,413,000 after acquiring an additional 33,416 shares during the last quarter. 64.39% of the stock is 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.