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

Alignment Healthcare, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALHC)’s share price 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 traded.

Several other equities analysts also recently issued reports on ALHC. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $6.00 price objective (down from $12.00) on shares of Alignment Healthcare in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on Alignment Healthcare from $11.00 to $9.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Raymond James lifted their price target on shares of Alignment Healthcare from $10.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 9th. Barclays initiated coverage on shares of Alignment Healthcare in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $4.50 target price on the stock. Finally, UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Alignment Healthcare from $9.00 to $8.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alignment Healthcare presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $8.83.

Insider Activity at Alignment Healthcare

In other news, CFO Robert Thomas Freeman sold 11,858 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.89, for a total transaction of $57,985.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 898,228 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,392,334.92. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Alignment Healthcare news, insider Dawn Christine Maroney sold 23,000 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the insider now directly 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 at this link. Also, CFO Robert Thomas Freeman sold 11,858 shares of Alignment Healthcare stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $4.89, for a total transaction of $57,985.62. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 898,228 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,392,334.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 90,213 shares of company stock worth $460,587 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 6.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alignment Healthcare

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Alignment Healthcare during the first quarter worth $57,000. Barlow Wealth Partners Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Alignment Healthcare in the 4th quarter worth about $100,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Alignment Healthcare by 17.9% in the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 12,935 shares of the company’s stock valued at $111,000 after acquiring an additional 1,962 shares during the last quarter. Teza Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Alignment Healthcare during the 3rd quarter valued at about $109,000. Finally, Aigen Investment Management LP acquired a new position in Alignment Healthcare during the third quarter worth about $116,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.19% of the company’s stock.

Alignment Healthcare Stock Up 26.0 %

The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $5.11 and its 200-day simple moving average is $6.55. The company has a market cap of $1.26 billion, a PE ratio of -8.39 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02.

Alignment Healthcare (NASDAQ:ALHC) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The company reported ($0.25) earnings per share (EPS) 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 8.12% and a negative return on equity of 75.64%. Alignment Healthcare’s quarterly revenue was up 43.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.20) EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Alignment Healthcare, Inc. will post -0.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.