Altair Engineering Inc. (NASDAQ:ALTR) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

Altair Engineering Inc. (NASDAQ:ALTR) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest during the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 4,670,000 shares, an increase of 6.6% from the August 15th total of 4,380,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 630,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 7.4 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on ALTR shares. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $100.00 price objective on shares of Altair Engineering in a report on Friday, August 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group cut Altair Engineering from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $85.00 to $71.00 in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut Altair Engineering from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $95.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Monday, July 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Altair Engineering has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $90.67.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder George J. Christ sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.40, for a total transaction of $9,840,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 200,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,680,000. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, major shareholder George J. Christ sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.40, for a total transaction of $9,840,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 200,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,680,000. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Teresa A. Harris sold 620 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $97.73, for a total value of $60,592.60. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 21,242 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,075,980.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 153,860 shares of company stock valued at $14,739,205. 21.75% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Altair Engineering

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Altair Engineering during the 2nd quarter worth $293,000. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky lifted its stake in shares of Altair Engineering by 59.9% during the 2nd quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 26,261 shares of the software’s stock worth $2,576,000 after purchasing an additional 9,834 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning lifted its stake in shares of Altair Engineering by 97.3% during the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 10,648 shares of the software’s stock worth $1,044,000 after purchasing an additional 5,252 shares during the last quarter. Algert Global LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Altair Engineering during the 2nd quarter worth $562,000. Finally, Select Equity Group L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Altair Engineering by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 21,789 shares of the software’s stock worth $2,137,000 after purchasing an additional 495 shares during the last quarter. 63.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Altair Engineering Price Performance

Shares of ALTR stock opened at $92.86 on Thursday. Altair Engineering has a twelve month low of $57.59 and a twelve month high of $101.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 1,041.89, a P/E/G ratio of 10.94 and a beta of 1.45. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $89.31 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $88.38. The company has a current ratio of 3.14, a quick ratio of 3.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

Altair Engineering (NASDAQ:ALTR) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The software reported $0.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.15 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $148.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $146.88 million. Altair Engineering had a return on equity of 6.89% and a net margin of 4.26%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($0.15) EPS. On average, analysts predict that Altair Engineering will post 0.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altair Engineering Company Profile

Altair Engineering Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides software and cloud solutions in the areas of simulation and design, high-performance computing, data analytics, and artificial intelligence in the United States and internationally. It operates in two segments, Software and Client Engineering Services.