Wall Street Zen Downgrades MediaAlpha (NYSE:MAX) to Buy

MediaAlpha (NYSE:MAX) was downgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued on Saturday.

Several other research analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on MediaAlpha from $15.00 to $11.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price target on shares of MediaAlpha from $18.00 to $11.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on shares of MediaAlpha from $19.00 to $16.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on shares of MediaAlpha from $13.50 to $11.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, MediaAlpha currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $14.58.

MediaAlpha Trading Down 5.3%

NYSE MAX opened at $9.08 on Friday. MediaAlpha has a 12 month low of $7.09 and a 12 month high of $13.92. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $9.46 and a 200 day simple moving average of $11.27. The company has a market capitalization of $585.72 million, a PE ratio of 23.29 and a beta of 1.30.

MediaAlpha (NYSE:MAX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 23rd. The company reported $0.50 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $291.16 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $296.42 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.08 EPS. MediaAlpha’s quarterly revenue was down 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that MediaAlpha will post 0.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at MediaAlpha

In other MediaAlpha news, Director Eugene Nonko sold 59,202 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.01, for a total value of $592,612.02. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 1,395,320 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,967,153.20. This represents a 4.07% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Steven Yi sold 39,252 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.99, for a total transaction of $392,127.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 2,649,624 shares in the company, valued at $26,469,743.76. This trade represents a 1.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 546,489 shares of company stock worth $5,693,335 in the last ninety days. 13.44% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of MediaAlpha

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of MediaAlpha by 5.1% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 764,702 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,375,000 after purchasing an additional 36,949 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning acquired a new position in shares of MediaAlpha in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $168,000. Intech Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of MediaAlpha by 6.4% during the 2nd quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 18,502 shares of the company’s stock worth $203,000 after acquiring an additional 1,105 shares during the period. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH boosted its position in shares of MediaAlpha by 106.7% during the 2nd quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH now owns 34,617 shares of the company’s stock worth $379,000 after acquiring an additional 17,868 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of MediaAlpha by 75.9% during the 2nd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 542,246 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,938,000 after acquiring an additional 233,948 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.