Renaissance Technologies LLC Sells 326,100 Shares of MediaAlpha, Inc. $MAX

Renaissance Technologies LLC lowered its stake in MediaAlpha, Inc. (NYSE:MAX) by 31.2% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 719,300 shares of the company’s stock after selling 326,100 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC’s holdings in MediaAlpha were worth $6,689,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Millennium Management LLC raised its position 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 purchasing an additional 1,246,493 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of MediaAlpha by 1,261.9% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 710,819 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,089,000 after purchasing an additional 658,625 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of MediaAlpha during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $4,268,000. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC raised its holdings in MediaAlpha by 831.7% during the 3rd quarter. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC now owns 353,930 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,028,000 after buying an additional 315,943 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings 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 buying an additional 309,455 shares during the period. 64.39% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on MAX. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of MediaAlpha from $10.00 to $14.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price 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. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of MediaAlpha from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Texas Capital raised shares of MediaAlpha to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 9th. Finally, TD Cowen cut their price target on shares of MediaAlpha from $13.00 to $11.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, MediaAlpha has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $13.29.

MediaAlpha Stock Performance

Shares of MAX stock opened at $12.36 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $11.71 and a 200 day moving average price of $10.20. MediaAlpha, Inc. has a 52-week low of $7.09 and a 52-week high of $14.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $770.83 million, a P/E ratio of 7.63 and a beta of 1.11.

MediaAlpha (NYSE:MAX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.23 by $0.42. MediaAlpha had a negative return on equity of 301.42% and a net margin of 7.94%.The company had revenue of $316.88 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $300.87 million. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that MediaAlpha, Inc. will post 0.97 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Eugene Nonko sold 4,952 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $14.05, for a total value of $69,575.60. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 860,862 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,095,111.10. This represents a 0.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 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. Insiders have sold 432,820 shares of company stock worth $5,296,026 over the last ninety days. 14.65% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

MediaAlpha 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.