Traders Purchase High Volume of Call Options on Alignment Healthcare (NASDAQ:ALHC)

Alignment Healthcare, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALHC) saw unusually large options trading on Friday. Traders acquired 16,250 call options on the company. This is an increase of 453% compared to the average daily volume of 2,941 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Alignment Healthcare Stock Performance

Shares of Alignment Healthcare stock remained flat at $10.84 during mid-day trading on Friday. 377,334 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,182,114. The company has a market cap of $2.08 billion, a PE ratio of -14.08 and a beta of 1.42. Alignment Healthcare has a one year low of $4.46 and a one year high of $14.25. The company has a quick ratio of 1.60, a current ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.82. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $11.87 and a 200-day moving average of $10.26.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO John E. Kao sold 90,000 shares of Alignment Healthcare stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.33, for a total value of $1,019,700.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,543,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $28,813,323. The trade was a 3.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Hyong Kim sold 22,460 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.03, for a total transaction of $247,733.80. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 533,070 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,879,762.10. This represents a 4.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 653,546 shares of company stock valued at $7,875,008. 6.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alignment Healthcare

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

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.