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

MediaAlpha (NYSE:MAX) was downgraded by equities research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on MediaAlpha from $16.00 to $15.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 7th. Zacks Research lowered shares of MediaAlpha from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 19th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of MediaAlpha from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of MediaAlpha from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Capital One Financial set a $11.00 price objective on shares of MediaAlpha in a research report on Tuesday, June 9th. One equities research 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $12.36.

MediaAlpha Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of MediaAlpha stock opened at $13.53 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $9.65 and its 200 day moving average price is $10.03. MediaAlpha has a twelve month low of $7.09 and a twelve month high of $13.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $843.28 million, a P/E ratio of 21.13 and a beta of 1.08.

MediaAlpha (NYSE:MAX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.21 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%.The business’s revenue was up 17.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.04) earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that MediaAlpha will post 0.99 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at MediaAlpha

In other MediaAlpha news, Director Eugene Nonko sold 49,844 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 1,329,099 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,344,153.96. This represents a 3.61% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 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, insider Steven Yi sold 96,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $12.90, for a total value of $1,238,400.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 2,759,690 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $35,600,001. This represents a 3.36% 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 three months, insiders sold 634,396 shares of company stock valued at $6,609,862. 14.65% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MediaAlpha

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its holdings in MediaAlpha by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 51,550 shares of the company’s stock worth $561,000 after purchasing an additional 1,144 shares during the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its stake in shares of MediaAlpha by 28.0% during the 2nd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 5,551 shares of the company’s stock valued at $61,000 after buying an additional 1,213 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP grew its position in shares of MediaAlpha by 43.3% during the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 4,087 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 1,234 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its position in shares of MediaAlpha by 13.4% during the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 12,757 shares of the company’s stock worth $140,000 after buying an additional 1,510 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd grew its position in shares of MediaAlpha by 5,900.0% during the fourth quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 2,160 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 2,124 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.39% of the company’s stock.

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.