Stock Traders Buy Large Volume of Call Options on Alignment Healthcare (NASDAQ:ALHC)

Alignment Healthcare, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALHC) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Investors purchased 6,502 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 12,904% compared to the average daily volume of 50 call options.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alignment Healthcare

In other news, CFO Robert Thomas Freeman sold 22,100 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.00, for a total transaction of $221,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 497,329 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,973,290. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, CFO Robert Thomas Freeman sold 22,100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.00, for a total transaction of $221,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 497,329 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,973,290. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Dawn Christine Maroney sold 36,700 shares of Alignment Healthcare stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.01, for a total value of $367,367.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,816,097 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,179,130.97. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 226,554 shares of company stock worth $2,154,152 in the last quarter. 6.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alignment Healthcare

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Alignment Healthcare by 17.9% in the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 12,935 shares of the company’s stock worth $111,000 after purchasing an additional 1,962 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Alignment Healthcare by 18.1% in the 2nd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 13,521 shares of the company’s stock worth $106,000 after buying an additional 2,077 shares during the last quarter. Aigen Investment Management LP boosted its stake in Alignment Healthcare by 18.5% in the fourth quarter. Aigen Investment Management LP now owns 19,764 shares of the company’s stock worth $170,000 after buying an additional 3,092 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its position in Alignment Healthcare by 9.2% during the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 39,570 shares of the company’s stock valued at $196,000 after acquiring an additional 3,334 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its stake in shares of Alignment Healthcare by 18.4% during the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 31,289 shares of the company’s stock worth $269,000 after acquiring an additional 4,862 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.19% of the company’s stock.

Alignment Healthcare Price Performance

Shares of ALHC stock traded up $0.20 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $8.69. The company had a trading volume of 204,786 shares, compared to its average volume of 932,534. Alignment Healthcare has a 52 week low of $4.46 and a 52 week high of $10.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.11 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a quick ratio of 1.57, a current ratio of 1.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $8.45 and its two-hundred day moving average is $6.82.

Alignment Healthcare (NASDAQ:ALHC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported ($0.13) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.14) by $0.01. Alignment Healthcare had a negative net margin of 6.85% and a negative return on equity of 95.55%. The firm had revenue of $681.29 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $637.66 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.15) EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 47.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Alignment Healthcare will post -0.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on ALHC shares. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Alignment Healthcare from $4.50 to $7.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Alignment Healthcare from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Stephens increased their price objective on Alignment Healthcare from $6.00 to $7.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Alignment Healthcare from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Baird R W upgraded Alignment Healthcare to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $10.05.

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.