Short Interest in Alignment Healthcare, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALHC) Grows By 6.8%

Alignment Healthcare, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALHC) saw a significant growth in short interest during the month of May. As of May 31st, there was short interest totalling 5,820,000 shares, a growth of 6.8% from the May 15th total of 5,450,000 shares. Approximately 6.4% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 946,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 6.1 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on ALHC. Bank of America raised shares of Alignment Healthcare from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $7.75 to $11.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Alignment Healthcare in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Barclays initiated coverage on shares of Alignment Healthcare in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $4.50 price target on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on Alignment Healthcare from $11.00 to $9.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, Stephens upped their price target on Alignment Healthcare from $6.00 to $7.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $9.20.

Alignment Healthcare Price Performance

NASDAQ ALHC opened at $7.90 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $6.60 and its 200-day simple moving average is $6.69. Alignment Healthcare has a 52 week low of $4.46 and a 52 week high of $9.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.57 and a quick ratio of 1.57.

Alignment Healthcare (NASDAQ:ALHC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The company reported ($0.25) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.24) by ($0.01). Alignment Healthcare had a negative return on equity of 91.06% and a negative net margin of 7.81%. The business had revenue of $628.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $599.75 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($0.20) earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 43.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Alignment Healthcare will post -0.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alignment Healthcare

In related news, insider Christopher J. Joyce sold 16,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.01, for a total value of $128,160.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 422,912 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,387,525.12. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Dawn Christine Maroney sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.21, for a total value of $164,200.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,956,097 shares in the company, valued at $16,059,556.37. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Christopher J. Joyce sold 16,000 shares of Alignment Healthcare stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.01, for a total value of $128,160.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 422,912 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,387,525.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 43,320 shares of company stock valued at $331,653. Insiders own 6.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ALHC. Hood River Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Alignment Healthcare by 49.6% in the 1st quarter. Hood River Capital Management LLC now owns 2,920,836 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,487,000 after purchasing an additional 968,637 shares during the last quarter. Deerfield Management Company L.P. Series C lifted its position in shares of Alignment Healthcare by 49.1% during the 3rd quarter. Deerfield Management Company L.P. Series C now owns 2,747,015 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,064,000 after purchasing an additional 905,015 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Alignment Healthcare by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,121,432 shares of the company’s stock valued at $63,303,000 after purchasing an additional 322,661 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in Alignment Healthcare by 283.9% in the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 315,629 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,566,000 after buying an additional 233,417 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alignment Healthcare in the first quarter valued at about $918,000. Institutional investors own 86.19% of the company’s stock.

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.