MediaAlpha, Inc. (NYSE:MAX) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

MediaAlpha, Inc. (NYSE:MAX) has earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the nine ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have issued a hold recommendation, four have issued a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $12.3571.

MAX has been the subject of several recent research reports. Texas Capital upgraded MediaAlpha to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on shares of MediaAlpha from $16.00 to $15.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 7th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of MediaAlpha from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of MediaAlpha from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 16th. Finally, Capital One Financial set a $11.00 price target on shares of MediaAlpha in a research report on Tuesday, June 9th.

Insider Activity

In other MediaAlpha news, insider Steven Yi sold 96,000 shares of the company’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 completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 2,759,690 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $35,600,001. This represents a 3.36% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through 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, Director Eugene Nonko sold 49,844 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 approximately $13,344,153.96. This represents a 3.61% 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 90 days, insiders have sold 634,396 shares of company stock worth $6,609,862. 14.65% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MediaAlpha

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Glenmede Trust Co. NA purchased a new stake in shares of MediaAlpha during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $122,000. Bank of America Corp DE grew its position in shares of MediaAlpha by 380.9% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 279,704 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,601,000 after purchasing an additional 221,540 shares in the last quarter. Amundi raised its stake in shares of MediaAlpha by 33.2% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 78,104 shares of the company’s stock valued at $726,000 after purchasing an additional 19,488 shares during the period. Stoic Point Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of MediaAlpha by 6.6% during the 1st quarter. Stoic Point Capital Management LLC now owns 221,041 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,056,000 after purchasing an additional 13,743 shares during the period. Finally, Quantinno Capital Management LP lifted its holdings in MediaAlpha by 150.9% during the 1st quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 107,274 shares of the company’s stock worth $998,000 after purchasing an additional 64,526 shares in the last quarter. 64.39% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MediaAlpha Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MAX opened at $12.81 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $9.50 and a 200 day simple moving average of $10.00. MediaAlpha has a 1 year low of $7.09 and a 1 year high of $13.92. The firm has a market cap of $798.45 million, a PE ratio of 20.01 and a beta of 1.08.

MediaAlpha (NYSE:MAX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.21 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.25 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $310.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $298.91 million. MediaAlpha had a net margin of 3.37% and a negative return on equity of 147.82%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 17.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.04) EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that MediaAlpha will post 0.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.