Investors Purchase Large Volume of Alignment Healthcare Call Options (NASDAQ:ALHC)

Alignment Healthcare, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALHC) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock investors acquired 30,068 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 1,049% compared to the average daily volume of 2,617 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on ALHC. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Alignment Healthcare from $26.00 to $22.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Wall Street Zen lowered Alignment Healthcare from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 1st. Raymond James Financial lowered Alignment Healthcare from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $22.00 to $19.00 in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Zacks Research downgraded Alignment Healthcare from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, July 6th. Finally, TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Alignment Healthcare in a research report on Wednesday, September 16th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $23.60.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, President Dawn Maroney sold 122,707 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $12.68, for a total transaction of $1,555,924.76. Following the completion of the sale, the president owned 794,606 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,075,604.08. This represents a 13.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CEO John E. Kao sold 385,270 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.68, for a total transaction of $4,885,223.60. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,223,473 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,513,637.64. This trade represents a 23.95% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. In the last three months, insiders have sold 1,327,488 shares of company stock valued at $19,291,194. Insiders own 5.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in Alignment Healthcare by 9.8% in the 2nd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 18,780,363 shares of the company’s stock valued at $447,160,000 after acquiring an additional 1,681,427 shares during the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alignment Healthcare in the second quarter valued at $184,799,000. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Alignment Healthcare by 8.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,841,703 shares of the company’s stock valued at $75,884,000 after purchasing an additional 299,279 shares during the last quarter. Danica Pension Livsforsikringsaktieselskab acquired a new position in Alignment Healthcare in the second quarter valued at $87,794,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in Alignment Healthcare during the second quarter worth about $87,077,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.19% of the company’s stock.

Alignment Healthcare Stock Up 3.2%

Shares of NASDAQ ALHC opened at $8.16 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.95 and a beta of 1.11. Alignment Healthcare has a 52 week low of $7.37 and a 52 week high of $25.12. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $12.91 and a 200 day moving average price of $17.09. The company has a quick ratio of 1.70, a current ratio of 1.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22.

Alignment Healthcare (NASDAQ:ALHC) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The company reported $0.17 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.13 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $1.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.31 billion. Alignment Healthcare had a return on equity of 20.02% and a net margin of 0.89%.Alignment Healthcare’s revenue was up 31.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.07 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Alignment Healthcare will post 0.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Alignment Healthcare

Alignment Healthcare, Inc is a technology-enabled healthcare company that provides Medicare Advantage health plans and care-management services for older adults. Through its Alignment Health Plan subsidiary, the company offers insurance coverage designed for Medicare-eligible members, including primary and specialty care coordination, prescription drug benefits, preventive services and access to a network of healthcare providers.

The company combines health-plan operations with proprietary technology intended to support personalized care.