Altair Engineering Inc. (NASDAQ:ALTR) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Altair Engineering Inc. (NASDAQ:ALTR) have received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the six research firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $90.00.

ALTR has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Oppenheimer increased their price target on Altair Engineering from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $90.00 price target on shares of Altair Engineering in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $100.00 price target on shares of Altair Engineering in a research note on Monday, March 25th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $88.00 price target (up from $74.00) on shares of Altair Engineering in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Altair Engineering from $86.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO James Ralph Scapa sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.07, for a total value of $910,700.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 103,591 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,434,032.37. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, major shareholder George J. Christ sold 83,336 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.99, for a total transaction of $7,166,062.64. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 200,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,198,000. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO James Ralph Scapa sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.07, for a total value of $910,700.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 103,591 shares in the company, valued at $9,434,032.37. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 161,830 shares of company stock valued at $13,876,320. Company insiders own 21.75% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Altair Engineering

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda purchased a new position in shares of Altair Engineering in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $220,000. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund raised its position in Altair Engineering by 33.4% in the fourth quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 85,000 shares of the software’s stock valued at $7,153,000 after purchasing an additional 21,300 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Altair Engineering by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,761,445 shares of the software’s stock valued at $484,826,000 after buying an additional 33,503 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Altair Engineering by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 61,493 shares of the software’s stock valued at $5,175,000 after buying an additional 2,301 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of Altair Engineering by 97.3% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,182,339 shares of the software’s stock valued at $99,494,000 after buying an additional 583,127 shares in the last quarter. 63.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Altair Engineering Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ ALTR opened at $83.45 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 2.16 and a quick ratio of 2.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.88 billion, a P/E ratio of -641.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 10.96 and a beta of 1.42. Altair Engineering has a 1-year low of $57.59 and a 1-year high of $92.92. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $84.18 and a 200 day moving average price of $78.59.

Altair Engineering (NASDAQ:ALTR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 22nd. The software reported $0.29 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $171.50 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $172.48 million. Altair Engineering had a positive return on equity of 3.77% and a negative net margin of 1.46%. Equities research analysts expect that Altair Engineering will post 0.63 EPS 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.