The Goldman Sachs Group Cuts MediaAlpha (NYSE:MAX) Price Target to $23.00

MediaAlpha (NYSE:MAX) had its target price lowered by The Goldman Sachs Group from $26.00 to $23.00 in a report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group’s price target suggests a potential upside of 104.99% from the stock’s previous close.

MAX has been the topic of a number of other reports. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on shares of MediaAlpha from $23.00 to $20.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of MediaAlpha from $25.00 to $15.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on MediaAlpha from $26.00 to $22.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, MediaAlpha currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $21.57.

MediaAlpha Stock Performance

MAX opened at $11.22 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $747.97 million, a P/E ratio of 66.00 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a 50-day moving average of $11.69 and a 200-day moving average of $14.86. MediaAlpha has a 1-year low of $10.21 and a 1-year high of $25.78.

MediaAlpha (NYSE:MAX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $0.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.13 by $0.04. MediaAlpha had a negative return on equity of 11.98% and a net margin of 1.41%. The firm had revenue of $259.13 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $246.96 million. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that MediaAlpha will post 0.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other MediaAlpha news, insider Eugene Nonko sold 72,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.67, for a total value of $1,488,240.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 1,550,990 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,058,963.30. This represents a 4.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 11.53% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of MediaAlpha

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of MAX. Driehaus Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of MediaAlpha by 208.4% in the second quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC now owns 1,436,615 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,920,000 after purchasing an additional 970,840 shares in the last quarter. Clearline Capital LP lifted its stake in MediaAlpha by 115.3% in the third quarter. Clearline Capital LP now owns 1,241,419 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,482,000 after acquiring an additional 664,691 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in MediaAlpha by 28.9% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 690,574 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,509,000 after purchasing an additional 154,637 shares in the last quarter. Divisadero Street Capital Management LP acquired a new position in shares of MediaAlpha during the 2nd quarter valued at about $7,956,000. Finally, State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of MediaAlpha by 7.0% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 547,906 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,923,000 after purchasing an additional 35,960 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.39% of the company’s stock.

About MediaAlpha

MediaAlpha, Inc, through its subsidiaries, operates an insurance customer acquisition platform in the United States. It optimizes customer acquisition in various verticals of property and casualty insurance, health insurance, and life insurance. The company was founded in 2014 and is headquartered in Los Angeles, California.