MediaAlpha (NYSE:MAX) Cut to “Buy” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of MediaAlpha (NYSE:MAX) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a report published on Saturday.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on MediaAlpha from $13.50 to $11.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. Zacks Research lowered MediaAlpha from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 25th. Weiss Ratings upgraded MediaAlpha from a “sell (d)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on shares of MediaAlpha from $19.00 to $16.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 24th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price target on shares of MediaAlpha from $18.00 to $11.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 24th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, MediaAlpha currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $14.58.

MediaAlpha Price Performance

MediaAlpha stock opened at $9.43 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $608.11 million, a P/E ratio of 24.17 and a beta of 1.30. MediaAlpha has a 1-year low of $7.09 and a 1-year high of $13.92. The company’s 50-day moving average is $9.41 and its 200 day moving average is $11.22.

MediaAlpha (NYSE:MAX) last announced its earnings results on Monday, February 23rd. The company reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.25 by $0.25. MediaAlpha had a negative return on equity of 132.73% and a net margin of 2.30%.The business had revenue of $291.16 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $296.42 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.08 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that MediaAlpha will post 0.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at MediaAlpha

In other MediaAlpha news, CTO Kuanling Amy Yeh sold 12,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $7.31, for a total value of $87,720.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer directly owned 381,662 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,789,949.22. This represents a 3.05% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CRO Keith Cramer sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.37, for a total value of $113,700.00. Following the transaction, the executive directly owned 177,169 shares in the company, valued at $2,014,411.53. The trade was a 5.34% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 529,389 shares of company stock valued at $5,467,390. Company insiders own 11.53% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of MediaAlpha

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Millennium Management LLC grew its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 1,246,493 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of MediaAlpha by 29.2% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,367,896 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,714,000 after purchasing an additional 309,455 shares in the last quarter. Clearline Capital LP raised its holdings in shares of MediaAlpha by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Clearline Capital LP now owns 1,301,453 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,854,000 after purchasing an additional 10,604 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its position in shares of MediaAlpha by 10.6% in the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,045,400 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,538,000 after purchasing an additional 100,300 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of MediaAlpha by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 804,095 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,413,000 after purchasing an additional 33,416 shares during the period. 64.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

MediaAlpha Company Profile

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.