Verition Fund Management LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in MediaAlpha, Inc. (NYSE:MAX)

Verition Fund Management LLC lowered its stake in MediaAlpha, Inc. (NYSE:MAX) by 89.9% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 14,254 shares of the company’s stock after selling 126,677 shares during the quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC’s holdings in MediaAlpha were worth $258,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in MediaAlpha by 9.4% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 14,321 shares of the company’s stock worth $292,000 after buying an additional 1,235 shares in the last quarter. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors increased its position in shares of MediaAlpha by 5.1% during the second quarter. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors now owns 23,890 shares of the company’s stock worth $315,000 after purchasing an additional 1,150 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in MediaAlpha by 15.8% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 84,155 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,108,000 after purchasing an additional 11,503 shares during the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its holdings in MediaAlpha by 354.9% in the 2nd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 8,624 shares of the company’s stock valued at $114,000 after purchasing an additional 6,728 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. acquired a new stake in MediaAlpha during the 2nd quarter worth $225,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.39% of the company’s stock.

MediaAlpha Price Performance

NYSE:MAX opened at $10.74 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $14.78 and its two-hundred day moving average is $15.68. MediaAlpha, Inc. has a 1-year low of $10.21 and a 1-year high of $25.78. The firm has a market capitalization of $715.97 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 63.18 and a beta of 1.10.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MAX has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on shares of MediaAlpha from $26.00 to $22.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on MediaAlpha from $20.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on MediaAlpha from $23.00 to $20.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $24.14.

Insider Buying and Selling at MediaAlpha

In other MediaAlpha news, insider Eugene Nonko sold 72,000 shares of MediaAlpha stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.67, for a total transaction of $1,488,240.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,550,990 shares in the company, valued at $32,058,963.30. This trade represents a 4.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 11.53% 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.