MediaAlpha (NYSE:MAX) Upgraded 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 note released on Saturday.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. TD Cowen lowered their target price on shares of MediaAlpha from $13.00 to $11.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. Zacks Research downgraded shares of MediaAlpha from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 19th. Texas Capital upgraded shares of MediaAlpha to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 9th. Weiss Ratings upgraded MediaAlpha from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. Finally, Capital One Financial set a $11.00 price objective on MediaAlpha in a report on Tuesday, June 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, MediaAlpha has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $13.29.

MediaAlpha Stock Up 2.6%

MAX opened at $12.70 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $11.63 and a 200-day moving average price of $10.19. MediaAlpha has a twelve month low of $7.09 and a twelve month high of $14.70. The company has a market capitalization of $791.97 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.84 and a beta of 1.11.

MediaAlpha (NYSE:MAX) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23 by $0.42. MediaAlpha had a net margin of 7.94% and a negative return on equity of 301.42%. The business had revenue of $316.88 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $300.87 million. On average, sell-side analysts expect that MediaAlpha will post 0.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at MediaAlpha

In related news, Director Eugene Nonko sold 4,952 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $14.05, for a total transaction of $69,575.60. Following the transaction, the director owned 860,862 shares in the company, valued at $12,095,111.10. The trade was a 0.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 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 436,820 shares of company stock worth $5,332,586. Insiders own 14.65% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MediaAlpha

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MAX. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of MediaAlpha by 5,900.0% during the 4th quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 2,160 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 2,124 shares in the last quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. lifted its position in MediaAlpha by 9,917.9% during the 4th quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 2,805 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 2,777 shares during the period. Quarry LP lifted its position in MediaAlpha by 43.3% during the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 4,087 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 1,234 shares during the period. Strs Ohio bought a new stake in MediaAlpha during the fourth quarter worth about $49,000. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its stake in MediaAlpha by 28.0% during the second quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 5,551 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,000 after acquiring an additional 1,213 shares in the last quarter. 64.39% of the stock is 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.