Short Interest in Alignment Healthcare, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALHC) Drops By 15.8%

Alignment Healthcare, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALHC - Get Free Report) saw a large decrease in short interest in the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 9,350,000 shares, a decrease of 15.8% from the November 30th total of 11,110,000 shares. Currently, 10.2% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 1,850,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 5.1 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on ALHC shares. Stephens upgraded shares of Alignment Healthcare from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and lifted their target price for the company from $13.00 to $17.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Barclays lifted 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. UBS Group increased their target price on Alignment Healthcare from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, KeyCorp assumed coverage on Alignment Healthcare in a research note on Friday, October 11th. They issued a "sector weight" rating for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $11.44.

Insider Activity

In other Alignment Healthcare news, CEO John E. Kao sold 90,000 shares of Alignment Healthcare stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.33, for a total transaction of $1,019,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,543,100 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $28,813,323. This trade represents a 3.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Robert Thomas Freeman sold 4,483 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.01, for a total transaction of $53,840.83. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 159,626 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,917,108.26. The trade was a 2.73 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 653,546 shares of company stock worth $7,875,008. Company insiders own 6.60% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Alignment Healthcare

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. nVerses Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Alignment Healthcare in the 3rd quarter worth $95,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. bought a new position in Alignment Healthcare during the third quarter worth about $131,000. Creative Planning grew its position in shares of Alignment Healthcare by 20.0% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 12,442 shares of the company's stock worth $147,000 after buying an additional 2,072 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Alignment Healthcare by 18.1% in the 2nd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 13,521 shares of the company's stock valued at $106,000 after acquiring an additional 2,077 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alignment Healthcare in the 3rd quarter valued at about $315,000. Institutional investors own 86.19% of the company's stock.

Alignment Healthcare Trading Down 0.2 %

Alignment Healthcare stock traded down $0.02 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $10.82. The stock had a trading volume of 756,974 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,183,712. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $11.87 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $10.31. The company has a current ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.07 billion, a PE ratio of -14.05 and a beta of 1.42. Alignment Healthcare has a 12 month low of $4.46 and a 12 month high of $14.25.

Alignment Healthcare (NASDAQ:ALHC - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported ($0.14) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of ($0.14). The company had revenue of $692.43 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $662.11 million. Alignment Healthcare had a negative net margin of 5.84% and a negative return on equity of 108.69%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 51.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($0.19) EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Alignment Healthcare will post -0.69 EPS for the current year.

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.