MediaAlpha (NYSE:MAX) Rating Increased to Strong-Buy at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of MediaAlpha (NYSE:MAX) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research report released on Sunday morning.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on MediaAlpha from $14.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Zacks Research cut shares of MediaAlpha from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 31st. Canaccord Genuity Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $15.00 target price on shares of MediaAlpha in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of MediaAlpha from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group set a $13.50 price target on shares of MediaAlpha in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $17.25.

MediaAlpha Trading Down 0.9%

MediaAlpha stock opened at $11.61 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $12.67 and a 200-day simple moving average of $11.63. The stock has a market cap of $756.30 million, a P/E ratio of -386.70 and a beta of 1.21. MediaAlpha has a 12-month low of $7.33 and a 12-month high of $13.92.

MediaAlpha (NYSE:MAX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The company reported $0.26 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $306.51 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $283.30 million. MediaAlpha had a negative return on equity of 71.02% and a negative net margin of 0.10%.MediaAlpha’s quarterly revenue was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.17 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that MediaAlpha will post 0.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Steven Yi sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.88, for a total value of $95,040.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 2,967,330 shares in the company, valued at $35,251,880.40. This represents a 0.27% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CTO Kuanling Amy Yeh sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.49, for a total transaction of $161,880.00. Following the sale, the chief technology officer owned 402,662 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,431,910.38. This represents a 2.89% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 354,600 shares of company stock valued at $4,482,102 in the last ninety days. 11.53% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MediaAlpha

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in MediaAlpha in the 2nd quarter valued at about $111,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of MediaAlpha in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $155,000. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC acquired a new position in shares of MediaAlpha in the second quarter valued at approximately $895,000. CWM LLC raised its stake in shares of MediaAlpha by 37.3% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 22,681 shares of the company’s stock worth $248,000 after purchasing an additional 6,158 shares during the last quarter. Finally, VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al acquired a new stake in shares of MediaAlpha during the second quarter worth $219,000. Hedge funds and other 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.