Altair Engineering (NASDAQ:ALTR) Trading 3.7% Higher – Here’s What Happened

Altair Engineering Inc. (NASDAQ:ALTR)’s stock price traded up 3.7% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $112.15 and last traded at $106.80. 1,188,808 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 156% from the average session volume of 463,475 shares. The stock had previously closed at $103.00.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of Altair Engineering from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $85.00 to $71.00 in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $100.00 target price on shares of Altair Engineering in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $90.00 target price on shares of Altair Engineering in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of Altair Engineering from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $95.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Monday, July 15th. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $90.67.

Altair Engineering Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 3.14 and a quick ratio of 3.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 1,149.33, a P/E/G ratio of 12.15 and a beta of 1.45. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $92.41 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $90.62.

Altair Engineering (NASDAQ:ALTR) last posted its quarterly 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 the consensus estimate of $146.88 million. Altair Engineering had a net margin of 4.26% and a return on equity of 6.89%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.15) earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Altair Engineering Inc. will post 0.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO James Ralph Scapa sold 13,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.11, for a total transaction of $1,145,430.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 134,045 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,810,704.95. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, major shareholder Jrs Investments Llc sold 6,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.11, for a total value of $572,715.00. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO James Ralph Scapa sold 13,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.11, for a total transaction of $1,145,430.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 134,045 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,810,704.95. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 360,360 shares of company stock valued at $35,194,300. Insiders own 21.75% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Altair Engineering

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. New York State Teachers Retirement System raised its stake in Altair Engineering by 1.2% in the third quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 8,500 shares of the software’s stock worth $812,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue raised its stake in Altair Engineering by 11.5% in the third quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 6,900 shares of the software’s stock worth $659,000 after buying an additional 710 shares in the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System grew its holdings in Altair Engineering by 2.5% in the third quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 16,500 shares of the software’s stock worth $1,576,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the period. Ballentine Partners LLC grew its holdings in Altair Engineering by 8.5% in the third quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 2,236 shares of the software’s stock worth $214,000 after purchasing an additional 175 shares during the period. Finally, Moody Aldrich Partners LLC grew its holdings in Altair Engineering by 15.2% in the third quarter. Moody Aldrich Partners LLC now owns 75,233 shares of the software’s stock worth $7,186,000 after purchasing an additional 9,907 shares during the period. 63.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.