MediaAlpha (NYSE:MAX) Stock Rating Lowered by Wall Street Zen

MediaAlpha (NYSE:MAX) was downgraded by stock analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report released on Saturday.

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

MediaAlpha Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of NYSE:MAX opened at $9.08 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $585.72 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.29 and a beta of 1.30. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $9.46 and a 200 day moving average price of $11.24. MediaAlpha has a twelve month low of $7.09 and a twelve month high of $13.92.

MediaAlpha (NYSE:MAX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 23rd. The company reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $291.16 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $296.42 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.08 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that MediaAlpha will post 0.48 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Steven Yi sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.42, for a total transaction of $37,680.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 3,043,247 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $28,667,386.74. This trade represents a 0.13% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CTO Kuanling Amy Yeh sold 3,000 shares of MediaAlpha stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.44, for a total transaction of $28,320.00. Following the sale, the chief technology officer owned 577,879 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,455,177.76. This trade represents a 0.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 529,389 shares of company stock worth $5,467,390 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 11.53% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in shares of MediaAlpha by 680.9% in the 3rd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,429,556 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,268,000 after purchasing an additional 1,246,493 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of MediaAlpha by 29.2% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,367,896 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,714,000 after buying an additional 309,455 shares during the period. Clearline Capital LP lifted its position in shares of MediaAlpha by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Clearline Capital LP now owns 1,301,453 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,854,000 after buying an additional 10,604 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its stake in MediaAlpha by 10.6% in the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,045,400 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,538,000 after buying an additional 100,300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in MediaAlpha by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 804,095 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,413,000 after buying an additional 33,416 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 64.39% of the company’s stock.

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.