Insider Selling: MediaAlpha (NYSE:MAX) CTO Sells 12,000 Shares of Stock

MediaAlpha, Inc. (NYSE:MAX) CTO Kuanling Amy Yeh sold 12,000 shares of MediaAlpha stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.05, for a total value of $96,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer directly owned 572,985 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,612,529.25. This trade represents a 2.05% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, 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.

Kuanling Amy Yeh also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Friday, April 10th, Kuanling Amy Yeh sold 3,000 shares of MediaAlpha stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.25, for a total value of $27,750.00.
• On Friday, March 27th, Kuanling Amy Yeh sold 3,000 shares of MediaAlpha stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.44, for a total value of $28,320.00.
• On Friday, March 6th, Kuanling Amy Yeh sold 3,000 shares of MediaAlpha stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.34, for a total transaction of $31,020.00.

MediaAlpha Trading Down 0.3%

MAX stock traded down $0.03 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $8.26. The company had a trading volume of 660,287 shares, compared to its average volume of 757,399. MediaAlpha, Inc. has a 1 year low of $7.09 and a 1 year high of $13.92. The company has a market capitalization of $515.20 million, a P/E ratio of 12.91 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a 50 day moving average of $9.43 and a two-hundred day moving average of $10.68.

MediaAlpha (NYSE:MAX) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analysts’ expectations of $298.91 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned ($0.04) EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 17.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that MediaAlpha, Inc. will post 1.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of MediaAlpha

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of MAX. Millennium Management LLC boosted 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 valued at $16,268,000 after purchasing an additional 1,246,493 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in MediaAlpha by 1,261.9% during the third 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 in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in MediaAlpha by 95.2% during 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 in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in MediaAlpha during the second quarter worth $4,268,000. Finally, Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC raised its stake in MediaAlpha by 831.7% during the third quarter. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC now owns 353,930 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,028,000 after acquiring an additional 315,943 shares in the last quarter. 64.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have commented on MAX shares. Wall Street Zen downgraded MediaAlpha from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on shares of MediaAlpha from $13.50 to $11.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of MediaAlpha from a “sell (d)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. Zacks Research cut shares of MediaAlpha from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of MediaAlpha from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $12.90.

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.