MediaAlpha (NYSE:MAX) General Counsel Sells 5,000 Shares

MediaAlpha, Inc. (NYSE:MAX) General Counsel Jeffrey Coyne sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.10, for a total transaction of $40,500.00. Following the transaction, the general counsel owned 591,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,793,288.40. This represents a 0.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, 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.

MediaAlpha Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of MediaAlpha stock traded down $0.03 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $8.26. 660,287 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 757,399. The company has a 50 day moving average of $9.43 and a two-hundred day moving average of $10.68. MediaAlpha, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $7.09 and a fifty-two week high of $13.92. The stock has a market cap of $515.20 million, a P/E ratio of 12.91 and a beta of 1.16.

MediaAlpha (NYSE:MAX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.21 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.25 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $310.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $298.91 million. MediaAlpha had a negative return on equity of 147.82% and a net margin of 3.37%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned ($0.04) EPS. As a group, analysts expect that MediaAlpha, Inc. will post 1.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MAX has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on MediaAlpha from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on shares of MediaAlpha from $16.00 to $15.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 7th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of MediaAlpha from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. Zacks Research downgraded shares of MediaAlpha from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 25th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of MediaAlpha from a “sell (d)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 25th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, MediaAlpha currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $12.90.

Institutional Trading of MediaAlpha

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in shares of MediaAlpha by 95.2% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,058,441 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,045,000 after acquiring an additional 516,195 shares during the period. Triad Investment Management acquired a new position in shares of MediaAlpha in the fourth quarter worth approximately $3,567,000. FourThought Financial Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of MediaAlpha in the third quarter worth approximately $281,000. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd lifted its stake in shares of MediaAlpha by 170.5% in the third quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd now owns 29,237 shares of the company’s stock worth $333,000 after acquiring an additional 18,429 shares during the period. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP lifted its stake in shares of MediaAlpha by 87.5% in the third quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 38,615 shares of the company’s stock worth $439,000 after acquiring an additional 18,021 shares during the period. 64.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About MediaAlpha

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.