Alignment Healthcare (NASDAQ:ALHC) Shares Gap Up – Time to Buy?

Alignment Healthcare, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALHC)’s stock price gapped up before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $10.72, but opened at $11.45. Alignment Healthcare shares last traded at $10.84, with a volume of 45,975 shares traded.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on ALHC shares. UBS Group upped their price objective on Alignment Healthcare from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays upped their price target on Alignment Healthcare from $7.00 to $8.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. KeyCorp began coverage on Alignment Healthcare in a research note on Friday, October 11th. They set a “sector weight” rating for the company. Finally, Stephens upgraded shares of Alignment Healthcare from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $13.00 to $17.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $11.44.

Alignment Healthcare Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $2.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -14.05 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a current ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.82. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $11.87 and its 200 day moving average is $10.28.

Alignment Healthcare (NASDAQ:ALHC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported ($0.14) earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.14). Alignment Healthcare had a negative return on equity of 108.69% and a negative net margin of 5.84%. The company had revenue of $692.43 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $662.11 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($0.19) earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 51.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Alignment Healthcare, Inc. will post -0.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Alignment Healthcare

In related news, CFO Robert Thomas Freeman sold 21,375 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.66, for a total transaction of $227,857.50. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 243,054 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,590,955.64. This represents a 8.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO John E. Kao sold 90,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.65, for a total transaction of $1,048,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,363,100 shares in the company, valued at $27,530,115. This represents a 3.67 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 653,546 shares of company stock worth $7,875,008. Company insiders own 6.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Verition Fund Management LLC increased its holdings in Alignment Healthcare by 85.3% in the 3rd quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 121,180 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,432,000 after acquiring an additional 55,771 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its stake in shares of Alignment Healthcare by 132.2% in the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 128,933 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,524,000 after purchasing an additional 73,402 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its position in shares of Alignment Healthcare by 144.1% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 193,446 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,287,000 after purchasing an additional 114,191 shares during the period. Deerfield Management Company L.P. Series C lifted its stake in shares of Alignment Healthcare by 31.8% during the 2nd quarter. Deerfield Management Company L.P. Series C now owns 10,901,485 shares of the company’s stock valued at $85,250,000 after buying an additional 2,630,788 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in Alignment Healthcare by 27.5% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 382,462 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,991,000 after buying an additional 82,559 shares during the period. 86.19% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alignment Healthcare Company Profile

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.