Alignment Healthcare Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NASDAQ:ALHC)

Alignment Healthcare, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALHC) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Tuesday. Investors purchased 7,845 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 187% compared to the average daily volume of 2,730 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Alignment Healthcare from $15.50 to $18.50 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Alignment Healthcare in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Alignment Healthcare from $8.00 to $9.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Alignment Healthcare from $14.00 to $17.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $17.00 price target on shares of Alignment Healthcare in a research report on Monday, February 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $14.83.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alignment Healthcare

In other news, CEO John E. Kao sold 90,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.06, for a total transaction of $1,175,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,273,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,686,686. This represents a 3.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Andreas P. Wagner sold 7,632 shares of Alignment Healthcare stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.40, for a total transaction of $125,164.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 223,474 shares in the company, valued at $3,664,973.60. This trade represents a 3.30 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,901,665 shares of company stock worth $29,141,513 in the last quarter. 6.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alignment Healthcare

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Alignment Healthcare by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,818,071 shares of the company’s stock worth $110,453,000 after purchasing an additional 166,837 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Alignment Healthcare by 54.7% in the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,649,042 shares of the company’s stock worth $97,302,000 after buying an additional 3,059,596 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of Alignment Healthcare by 77.9% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 7,438,500 shares of the company’s stock worth $83,683,000 after buying an additional 3,257,630 shares during the last quarter. Hood River Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Alignment Healthcare by 39.6% during the 4th quarter. Hood River Capital Management LLC now owns 4,952,995 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,721,000 after buying an additional 1,405,212 shares in the last quarter. Finally, 8 Knots Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alignment Healthcare by 49.5% during the 4th quarter. 8 Knots Management LLC now owns 3,658,695 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,160,000 after acquiring an additional 1,211,727 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.19% of the company’s stock.

Alignment Healthcare Price Performance

NASDAQ:ALHC opened at $17.19 on Thursday. Alignment Healthcare has a 52-week low of $4.46 and a 52-week high of $17.27. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $14.68 and a 200 day moving average of $12.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.82, a quick ratio of 1.60 and a current ratio of 1.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -22.32 and a beta of 1.49.

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.