Alignment Healthcare (NASDAQ:ALHC) Shares Gap Up After Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Alignment Healthcare, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALHC) gapped up prior to trading on Friday after Stephens raised their price target on the stock from $6.00 to $7.00. The stock had previously closed at $5.26, but opened at $5.72. Stephens currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. Alignment Healthcare shares last traded at $6.48, with a volume of 813,518 shares changing hands.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on ALHC. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Alignment Healthcare from $9.00 to $8.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. Barclays began coverage on shares of Alignment Healthcare in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $4.50 price target for the company. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of Alignment Healthcare from $11.00 to $9.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Raymond James increased their price target on shares of Alignment Healthcare from $10.00 to $12.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 9th. Finally, William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Alignment Healthcare in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $8.83.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alignment Healthcare news, CEO John E. Kao bought 103,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $4.82 per share, for a total transaction of $496,460.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,745,253 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,232,119.46. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Alignment Healthcare news, insider Dawn Christine Maroney sold 23,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.44, for a total transaction of $125,120.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 1,830,008 shares in the company, valued at $9,955,243.52. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO John E. Kao acquired 103,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 14th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $4.82 per share, with a total value of $496,460.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,745,253 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,232,119.46. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders sold 90,213 shares of company stock worth $460,587 over the last quarter. 6.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alignment Healthcare

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Alignment Healthcare by 3.7% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,121,432 shares of the company’s stock valued at $63,303,000 after acquiring an additional 322,661 shares during the period. Deerfield Management Company L.P. Series C boosted its position in shares of Alignment Healthcare by 49.1% in the third quarter. Deerfield Management Company L.P. Series C now owns 2,747,015 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,064,000 after acquiring an additional 905,015 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Alignment Healthcare by 39.7% in the third quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 1,913,459 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,279,000 after acquiring an additional 544,196 shares during the period. Rhenman & Partners Asset Management AB boosted its position in shares of Alignment Healthcare by 20.0% in the third quarter. Rhenman & Partners Asset Management AB now owns 1,200,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,328,000 after acquiring an additional 200,000 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Alignment Healthcare by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 751,309 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,469,000 after purchasing an additional 10,123 shares in the last quarter. 86.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Alignment Healthcare Price Performance

The business’s 50 day moving average is $5.12 and its two-hundred day moving average is $6.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.26 billion, a PE ratio of -7.89 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84.

Alignment Healthcare (NASDAQ:ALHC) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The company reported ($0.25) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.24) by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $628.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $599.75 million. Alignment Healthcare had a negative net margin of 7.81% and a negative return on equity of 84.43%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 43.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($0.20) earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Alignment Healthcare, Inc. will post -0.6 EPS for the current year.

About Alignment Healthcare

Alignment Healthcare, Inc, a tech-enabled Medicare advantage company, operates consumer-centric health care platform for seniors in the United States. It provides customized health care designed to meet the needs of a diverse array of seniors through its Medicare advantage plans. The company was founded in 2013 and is based in Orange, California.