MediaAlpha (NYSE:MAX) Stock Rating Lowered by Zacks Research

MediaAlpha (NYSE:MAX) was downgraded by investment analysts at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report issued on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of MediaAlpha from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their target price on shares of MediaAlpha from $18.00 to $11.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on shares of MediaAlpha from $13.50 to $11.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of MediaAlpha from a “sell (d)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of MediaAlpha from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. Four research 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $12.90.

MediaAlpha Stock Up 1.5%

NYSE MAX opened at $8.37 on Tuesday. MediaAlpha has a 52 week low of $7.09 and a 52 week high of $13.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $521.56 million, a PE ratio of 13.07 and a beta of 1.16. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $9.36 and a two-hundred day moving average of $10.63.

MediaAlpha (NYSE:MAX) last posted 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). MediaAlpha had a negative return on equity of 147.82% and a net margin of 3.37%.The firm had revenue of $310.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $298.91 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($0.04) EPS. The company’s revenue was up 17.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that MediaAlpha will post 1.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at MediaAlpha

In related news, Director Eugene Nonko sold 59,202 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.01, for a total transaction of $592,612.02. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 1,395,320 shares in the company, valued at $13,967,153.20. This represents a 4.07% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Steven Yi sold 39,252 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.99, for a total transaction of $392,127.48. Following the sale, the insider owned 2,649,624 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,469,743.76. This represents a 1.46% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 682,897 shares of company stock valued at $6,733,255. Company insiders own 14.65% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of MediaAlpha

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in MediaAlpha by 680.9% during the 3rd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,429,556 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,268,000 after purchasing an additional 1,246,493 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 309,455 shares during the period. Clearline Capital LP boosted its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 10,604 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its stake in MediaAlpha by 24.1% during the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,061,981 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,876,000 after purchasing an additional 206,077 shares during the period. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its stake in MediaAlpha by 10.6% during the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,045,400 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,538,000 after purchasing an additional 100,300 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.