Short Interest in Altair Engineering Inc. (NASDAQ:ALTR) Grows By 25.9%

Altair Engineering Inc. (NASDAQ:ALTR) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in the month of February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 5,110,000 shares, an increase of 25.9% from the January 31st total of 4,060,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 764,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 6.7 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on ALTR. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Altair Engineering in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $113.00 price target on shares of Altair Engineering in a research note on Monday, February 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have given a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $100.83.

Insider Activity

In other Altair Engineering news, CMO Amy Messano sold 235 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.53, for a total value of $26,209.55. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 23,651 shares in the company, valued at $2,637,796.03. This represents a 0.98 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CRO Nelson Dias sold 373 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.53, for a total transaction of $41,600.69. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive now directly owns 57,573 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,421,116.69. The trade was a 0.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 32,855 shares of company stock worth $3,542,373 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 21.75% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Altair Engineering

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. NBT Bank N A NY increased its position in shares of Altair Engineering by 76.4% during the fourth quarter. NBT Bank N A NY now owns 247 shares of the software’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 107 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its position in shares of Altair Engineering by 77.0% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 285 shares of the software’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 124 shares in the last quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Altair Engineering in the fourth quarter worth $37,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Altair Engineering by 14.6% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 729 shares of the software’s stock worth $80,000 after purchasing an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in Altair Engineering by 185.5% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 825 shares of the software’s stock valued at $90,000 after buying an additional 536 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 63.38% of the company’s stock.

Altair Engineering Trading Down 0.0 %

ALTR opened at $111.32 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $110.49 and its 200-day moving average price is $102.79. Altair Engineering has a 12 month low of $75.71 and a 12 month high of $113.12. The company has a market cap of $9.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 654.82, a P/E/G ratio of 10.75 and a beta of 1.45.

Altair Engineering (NASDAQ:ALTR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The software reported $0.36 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.51 by ($0.15). The firm had revenue of $192.63 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $182.98 million. Altair Engineering had a net margin of 2.13% and a return on equity of 8.08%. Equities research analysts forecast that Altair Engineering will post 0.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Altair Engineering

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.