Alignment Healthcare (NASDAQ:ALHC) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Stifel Nicolaus Analyst Says

Alignment Healthcare (NASDAQ:ALHC) had its price objective hoisted by research analysts at Stifel Nicolaus from $14.00 to $16.00 in a research note issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus’ price objective points to a potential upside of 18.52% from the company’s current price.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on ALHC. Barclays boosted their price objective on Alignment Healthcare from $7.00 to $8.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $17.00 price target on shares of Alignment Healthcare in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Alignment Healthcare from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, KeyCorp began coverage on shares of Alignment Healthcare in a research report on Friday, October 11th. They issued a “sector weight” rating on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alignment Healthcare currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $11.88.

Alignment Healthcare Stock Up 13.6 %

Shares of ALHC opened at $13.50 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $11.91 and its 200-day moving average price is $10.62. The company has a quick ratio of 1.60, a current ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.82. The company has a market capitalization of $2.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -17.53 and a beta of 1.45. Alignment Healthcare has a 52 week low of $4.46 and a 52 week high of $14.25.

Alignment Healthcare (NASDAQ:ALHC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported ($0.14) earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.14). Alignment Healthcare had a negative net margin of 5.84% and a negative return on equity of 108.69%. The business had revenue of $692.43 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $662.11 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.19) earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 51.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Alignment Healthcare will post -0.69 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Alignment Healthcare

In other news, CFO Robert Thomas Freeman sold 4,483 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $12.01, for a total transaction of $53,840.83. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 159,626 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,917,108.26. The trade was a 2.73 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO John E. Kao sold 90,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.06, for a total transaction of $1,175,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,273,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,686,686. The trade was a 3.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 509,224 shares of company stock valued at $6,399,990. Corporate insiders own 6.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Alignment Healthcare

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new position in Alignment Healthcare in the third quarter valued at approximately $95,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Alignment Healthcare in the 3rd quarter valued at $131,000. Creative Planning lifted its stake in shares of Alignment Healthcare by 20.0% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 12,442 shares of the company’s stock valued at $147,000 after purchasing an additional 2,072 shares during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alignment Healthcare during the 3rd quarter worth $315,000. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its position in shares of Alignment Healthcare by 110.0% during the 2nd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 36,526 shares of the company’s stock worth $286,000 after purchasing an additional 19,129 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.19% of the company’s stock.

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.