Short Interest in MediaAlpha, Inc. (NYSE:MAX) Expands By 39.5%

MediaAlpha, Inc. (NYSE:MAX - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,190,000 shares, a growth of 39.5% from the March 15th total of 1,570,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 544,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.0 days. Approximately 7.2% of the company's shares are short sold.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently issued reports on MAX. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on shares of MediaAlpha from $14.00 to $12.50 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on MediaAlpha from $27.00 to $23.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on MediaAlpha from $13.00 to $10.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Canaccord Genuity Group decreased their price objective on MediaAlpha from $30.00 to $26.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 24th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on shares of MediaAlpha from $19.00 to $16.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, MediaAlpha currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $17.21.

MediaAlpha Trading Up 2.7 %

MediaAlpha stock traded up $0.22 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $8.51. The company had a trading volume of 69,734 shares, compared to its average volume of 653,852. MediaAlpha has a 12 month low of $7.33 and a 12 month high of $25.78. The company has a market capitalization of $570.43 million, a PE ratio of 50.06 and a beta of 1.11. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $9.11 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $11.80.

MediaAlpha (NYSE:MAX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 24th. The company reported $0.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.24 by ($0.16). The firm had revenue of $300.65 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $289.38 million. MediaAlpha had a negative return on equity of 11.98% and a net margin of 1.41%. Equities research analysts anticipate that MediaAlpha will post 0.48 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MediaAlpha

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in MediaAlpha by 4.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,623,344 shares of the company's stock valued at $40,908,000 after acquiring an additional 169,654 shares in the last quarter. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of MediaAlpha by 77.7% in the fourth quarter. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC now owns 1,628,815 shares of the company's stock worth $18,389,000 after purchasing an additional 712,410 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of MediaAlpha by 91.0% during the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 781,349 shares of the company's stock valued at $8,821,000 after purchasing an additional 372,305 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of MediaAlpha by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 698,703 shares of the company's stock valued at $7,890,000 after buying an additional 8,129 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp increased its holdings in MediaAlpha by 7.0% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 547,906 shares of the company's stock worth $9,923,000 after buying an additional 35,960 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 64.39% of the company's stock.

MediaAlpha Company Profile

MediaAlpha, Inc, through its subsidiaries, operates an insurance customer acquisition platform in the United States. It optimizes customer acquisition in various verticals of property and casualty insurance, health insurance, and life insurance. The company was founded in 2014 and is headquartered in Los Angeles, California.