Principal Financial Group Inc. Raises Holdings in Alignment Healthcare, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALHC)

Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Alignment Healthcare, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALHC) by 18.1% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 13,521 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 2,077 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Alignment Healthcare were worth $106,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. acquired a new position in Alignment Healthcare during the 1st quarter worth about $918,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Alignment Healthcare by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,239,472 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,828,000 after buying an additional 93,262 shares during the period. Jump Financial LLC purchased a new position in Alignment Healthcare in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $575,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in Alignment Healthcare by 27.5% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 382,462 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,991,000 after buying an additional 82,559 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in shares of Alignment Healthcare by 283.9% in the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 315,629 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,566,000 after purchasing an additional 233,417 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.19% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Robert Thomas Freeman sold 14,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.00, for a total transaction of $174,000.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 264,429 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,173,148. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, insider Hakan Kardes sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.48, for a total value of $287,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 380,444 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,367,497.12. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Robert Thomas Freeman sold 14,500 shares of Alignment Healthcare stock in a transaction on Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $12.00, for a total value of $174,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 264,429 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,173,148. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 268,639 shares of company stock valued at $2,676,719. Company insiders own 6.60% of the company’s stock.

Alignment Healthcare Trading Up 2.7 %

Shares of Alignment Healthcare stock opened at $11.89 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.27 billion, a PE ratio of -14.15 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70, a current ratio of 1.61 and a quick ratio of 1.61. Alignment Healthcare, Inc. has a 52-week low of $4.46 and a 52-week high of $12.36. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $9.15 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $7.29.

Alignment Healthcare (NASDAQ:ALHC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported ($0.13) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.14) by $0.01. The business had revenue of $681.29 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $637.66 million. Alignment Healthcare had a negative return on equity of 101.10% and a negative net margin of 6.85%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 47.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($0.15) earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Alignment Healthcare, Inc. will post -0.67 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on ALHC. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $10.00 target price (up previously from $8.00) on shares of Alignment Healthcare in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Alignment Healthcare from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. TD Cowen upped their target price on Alignment Healthcare from $8.00 to $10.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Barclays increased their price objective on Alignment Healthcare from $4.50 to $7.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Alignment Healthcare from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $9.83.

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.