MediaAlpha (NYSE:MAX) Hits New 52-Week High – Here’s Why

MediaAlpha, Inc. (NYSE:MAX) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $14.39 and last traded at $14.1740, with a volume of 543917 shares. The stock had previously closed at $14.09.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MAX has been the topic of a number of research reports. Wall Street Zen raised shares of MediaAlpha from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday. Texas Capital upgraded shares of MediaAlpha to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of MediaAlpha from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. 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. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of MediaAlpha from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $12.64.

MediaAlpha Price Performance

The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $10.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $10.06. The company has a market cap of $881.63 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.09 and a beta of 1.08.

MediaAlpha (NYSE:MAX) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $310.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $298.91 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted ($0.04) earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 17.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that MediaAlpha, Inc. will post 0.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other MediaAlpha news, Director Eugene Nonko sold 3,282 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.78, for a total value of $45,225.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 907,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,499,838. This trade represents a 0.36% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 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. Also, insider Steven Yi sold 26,467 shares of MediaAlpha stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $14.07, for a total value of $372,390.69. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 2,715,969 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $38,213,683.83. This trade represents a 0.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 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 quarter, insiders have sold 725,424 shares of company stock worth $8,007,496. 14.65% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MAX. Millennium Management LLC raised its holdings in MediaAlpha by 680.9% during the third 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 in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised 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 valued at $17,714,000 after acquiring an additional 309,455 shares during the last quarter. Clearline Capital LP raised its stake in shares of MediaAlpha by 0.8% during the fourth 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 last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its stake in shares of MediaAlpha by 24.1% in the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,061,981 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,876,000 after acquiring an additional 206,077 shares during the period. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its holdings in MediaAlpha by 10.6% in the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,045,400 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,538,000 after purchasing an additional 100,300 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.