MediaAlpha (NYSE:MAX) Rating Increased to Strong-Buy at Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen upgraded MediaAlpha (NYSE:MAX) from a "buy" to a "strong-buy" rating in its latest research report.
• Analyst views are mixed—four Buy and three Hold ratings lead to an average "Moderate Buy" with an average target price of $12.70, while firms including Goldman Sachs and RBC recently cut target prices and Zacks downgraded its rating.
• MediaAlpha reported Q EPS of $0.50, beating the $0.25 estimate with revenue of $291.16M (down 3.2% YoY); insiders sold roughly 485,089 shares recently and institutional investors own about 64.4% of the company.

MediaAlpha (NYSE:MAX - Get Free Report) was upgraded by research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report issued on Saturday.

Several other research firms also recently weighed in on MAX. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on shares of MediaAlpha from $13.50 to $11.50 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 24th. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their target price 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 research note on Wednesday, February 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on shares of MediaAlpha from $16.00 to $15.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of MediaAlpha from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 25th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MediaAlpha currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $12.70.

MediaAlpha Stock Performance

NYSE MAX opened at $9.07 on Friday. MediaAlpha has a 52-week low of $7.09 and a 52-week high of $13.92. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $9.16 and a 200 day simple moving average of $11.01. The company has a market capitalization of $584.76 million, a PE ratio of 23.25 and a beta of 1.39.

MediaAlpha (NYSE:MAX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 23rd. The company reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $296.42 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.08 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that MediaAlpha will post 0.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CRO Keith Cramer sold 10,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.37, for a total transaction of $113,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive owned 177,169 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,014,411.53. The trade was a 5.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CTO Kuanling Amy Yeh sold 12,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $7.31, for a total transaction of $87,720.00. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer directly owned 381,662 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,789,949.22. This represents a 3.05% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 485,089 shares of company stock worth $4,871,045 in the last three months. Insiders own 14.65% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MediaAlpha

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in MediaAlpha by 680.9% during the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,429,556 shares of the company's stock valued at $16,268,000 after acquiring an additional 1,246,493 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in MediaAlpha by 29.2% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,367,896 shares of the company's stock valued at $17,714,000 after acquiring an additional 309,455 shares in the last quarter. Clearline Capital LP grew its stake in MediaAlpha by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Clearline Capital LP now owns 1,301,453 shares of the company's stock valued at $16,854,000 after acquiring an additional 10,604 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its stake in MediaAlpha by 10.6% during the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,045,400 shares of the company's stock valued at $13,538,000 after acquiring an additional 100,300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in MediaAlpha by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 804,095 shares of the company's stock valued at $10,413,000 after acquiring an additional 33,416 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.

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