Alignment Healthcare (NASDAQ:ALHC) Upgraded by Piper Sandler to “Overweight”

Alignment Healthcare (NASDAQ:ALHC) was upgraded by investment analysts at Piper Sandler from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note issued on Wednesday, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm presently has a $8.00 price objective on the stock, up from their prior price objective of $6.00. Piper Sandler’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 16.45% from the company’s previous close.

ALHC has been the subject of several other research reports. Barclays began coverage on Alignment Healthcare in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $4.50 target price for the company. Stephens raised their target price on Alignment Healthcare from $6.00 to $7.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Raymond James raised their target price on Alignment Healthcare from $10.00 to $12.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 9th. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Alignment Healthcare in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on Alignment Healthcare from $11.00 to $9.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $8.69.

Alignment Healthcare Price Performance

Shares of ALHC opened at $6.87 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.18 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 1.57 and a current ratio of 1.57. Alignment Healthcare has a one year low of $4.46 and a one year high of $9.20. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $5.13 and its 200-day moving average is $6.52.

Alignment Healthcare (NASDAQ:ALHC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The company reported ($0.25) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.24) by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $628.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $599.75 million. Alignment Healthcare had a negative net margin of 7.81% and a negative return on equity of 91.06%. Alignment Healthcare’s revenue for the quarter was up 43.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted ($0.20) earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Alignment Healthcare will post -0.6 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Alignment Healthcare

In other Alignment Healthcare news, CEO John E. Kao bought 103,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $4.82 per share, with a total value of $496,460.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,745,253 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,232,119.46. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Alignment Healthcare news, CEO John E. Kao bought 103,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $4.82 per share, with a total value of $496,460.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,745,253 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,232,119.46. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Robert Thomas Freeman sold 28,522 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.05, for a total value of $144,036.10. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 869,706 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,392,015.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 90,213 shares of company stock valued at $460,587. Corporate insiders own 6.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Alignment Healthcare

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Alignment Healthcare by 47.4% during the 1st quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 256,452 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,272,000 after purchasing an additional 82,476 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its stake in Alignment Healthcare by 9.2% in the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 39,570 shares of the company’s stock valued at $196,000 after buying an additional 3,334 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Alignment Healthcare in the 1st quarter valued at $57,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Aigen Investment Management LP boosted its stake in Alignment Healthcare by 18.5% in the 4th quarter. Aigen Investment Management LP now owns 19,764 shares of the company’s stock valued at $170,000 after buying an additional 3,092 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.