Short Interest in Altair Engineering Inc. (NASDAQ:ALTR) Declines By 7.3%

Altair Engineering Inc. (NASDAQ:ALTR) saw a significant decrease in short interest in the month of October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 4,550,000 shares, a decrease of 7.3% from the September 30th total of 4,910,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 409,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 11.1 days.

Insider Activity at Altair Engineering

In related news, CEO James Ralph Scapa sold 13,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.04, for a total value of $1,157,520.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 134,045 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,935,366.80. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CEO James Ralph Scapa sold 13,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.04, for a total transaction of $1,157,520.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 134,045 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,935,366.80. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, major shareholder Jrs Investments Llc sold 6,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.04, for a total transaction of $578,760.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 360,360 shares of company stock worth $35,476,660 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 21.75% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Altair Engineering

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Altair Engineering by 572.1% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 289 shares of the software’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 246 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Altair Engineering by 81.7% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 418 shares of the software’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 188 shares during the period. FSC Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Altair Engineering by 41.3% during the second quarter. FSC Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 832 shares of the software’s stock worth $82,000 after purchasing an additional 243 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in Altair Engineering by 41.7% in the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,057 shares of the software’s stock valued at $104,000 after purchasing an additional 311 shares during the period. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in Altair Engineering in the first quarter valued at approximately $177,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 63.38% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on ALTR. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of Altair Engineering from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $95.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Monday, July 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded Altair Engineering from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $85.00 to $71.00 in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $100.00 price target on shares of Altair Engineering in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $90.00 price objective on shares of Altair Engineering in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Altair Engineering currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $90.67.

Altair Engineering Price Performance

NASDAQ ALTR opened at $108.63 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $93.72 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $91.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 1,207.00, a P/E/G ratio of 12.15 and a beta of 1.45. 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 has a 12-month low of $57.59 and a 12-month high of $113.12.

Altair Engineering (NASDAQ:ALTR) last announced 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. Altair Engineering had a return on equity of 6.89% and a net margin of 4.26%. The firm had revenue of $148.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $146.88 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($0.15) EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast 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.