Alignment Healthcare, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALHC) Short Interest Up 194.7% in November

Alignment Healthcare, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALHC) was the target of a large growth in short interest in the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 11,110,000 shares, a growth of 194.7% from the November 15th total of 3,770,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,890,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 5.9 days. Currently, 12.1% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Alignment Healthcare from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Alignment Healthcare from $7.00 to $8.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. KeyCorp started coverage on Alignment Healthcare in a research note on Friday, October 11th. They issued a “sector weight” rating on the stock. UBS Group increased their price objective on Alignment Healthcare from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Stephens upgraded shares of Alignment Healthcare from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $13.00 to $17.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. One research 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $11.44.

Alignment Healthcare Price Performance

Shares of Alignment Healthcare stock traded up $0.05 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $11.66. The company had a trading volume of 417,399 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,169,194. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $11.95 and a 200 day simple moving average of $10.03. Alignment Healthcare has a 1-year low of $4.46 and a 1-year high of $14.25. 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 company has a market capitalization of $2.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -15.08 and a beta of 1.42.

Alignment Healthcare (NASDAQ:ALHC) last issued its quarterly 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). Alignment Healthcare had a negative return on equity of 108.69% and a negative net margin of 5.84%. The business had revenue of $692.43 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $662.11 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.19) earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 51.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Alignment Healthcare will post -0.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Sebastian Burzacchi sold 8,550 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.26, for a total value of $96,273.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 217,395 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,447,867.70. This represents a 3.78 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Hyong Kim sold 62,574 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.20, for a total value of $763,402.80. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 470,496 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,740,051.20. This trade represents a 11.74 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 603,046 shares of company stock valued at $7,287,508. 6.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Verition Fund Management LLC boosted its holdings in Alignment Healthcare by 85.3% during the third quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 121,180 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,432,000 after buying an additional 55,771 shares during the last quarter. Deerfield Management Company L.P. Series C increased its stake in Alignment Healthcare by 31.8% during the 2nd quarter. Deerfield Management Company L.P. Series C now owns 10,901,485 shares of the company’s stock worth $85,250,000 after purchasing an additional 2,630,788 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in Alignment Healthcare by 27.5% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 382,462 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,991,000 after acquiring an additional 82,559 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Alignment Healthcare by 1,335.1% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 194,043 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,294,000 after acquiring an additional 180,522 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Alignment Healthcare by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 839,695 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,925,000 after purchasing an additional 13,865 shares during the last quarter. 86.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.