MediaAlpha (NYSE:MAX) Rating Lowered to Hold at Zacks Research

MediaAlpha (NYSE:MAX) was downgraded by Zacks Research from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on shares of MediaAlpha from $19.00 to $16.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their target price on MediaAlpha from $18.00 to $11.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 24th. Wall Street Zen raised MediaAlpha from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Sunday, January 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on MediaAlpha from $13.50 to $11.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on MediaAlpha from $15.00 to $11.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $14.58.

MediaAlpha Trading Up 1.7%

Shares of NYSE:MAX opened at $9.60 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $619.10 million, a PE ratio of 24.61 and a beta of 1.30. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $9.50 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $11.29. MediaAlpha has a 1-year low of $7.09 and a 1-year high of $13.92.

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

Insider Transactions at MediaAlpha

In other news, CTO Kuanling Amy Yeh sold 3,000 shares of MediaAlpha stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.34, for a total value of $31,020.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer owned 393,979 shares in the company, valued at $4,073,742.86. This trade represents a 0.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Steven Yi sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the insider directly owned 3,043,247 shares in the company, valued at approximately $28,667,386.74. This trade represents a 0.13% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 546,489 shares of company stock valued at $5,693,335. 13.44% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of MAX. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of MediaAlpha by 9,917.9% in the fourth quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 2,805 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 2,777 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in MediaAlpha by 6.7% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 263,024 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,406,000 after purchasing an additional 16,597 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in MediaAlpha by 32.1% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 26,024 shares of the company’s stock worth $337,000 after purchasing an additional 6,319 shares during the period. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV boosted its stake in MediaAlpha by 32.1% in the 4th quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 16,960 shares of the company’s stock worth $220,000 after purchasing an additional 4,120 shares during the period. Finally, State of Tennessee Department of Treasury purchased a new position in MediaAlpha during the 4th quarter valued at about $167,000. 64.39% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.