Altair Engineering (NASDAQ:ALTR) Hits New 1-Year High at $101.09

Shares of Altair Engineering Inc. (NASDAQ:ALTR) reached a new 52-week high on Thursday . The company traded as high as $101.09 and last traded at $100.40, with a volume of 94392 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $98.62.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on ALTR. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Altair Engineering from $86.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $90.00 price objective on shares of Altair Engineering in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $88.00 price objective on shares of Altair Engineering in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $100.00 target price on shares of Altair Engineering in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $94.60.

Altair Engineering Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $8.25 billion, a PE ratio of 1,104.67, a PEG ratio of 12.30 and a beta of 1.48. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $92.23 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $87.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 2.46 and a current ratio of 2.46.

Altair Engineering (NASDAQ:ALTR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The software reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $172.91 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $169.29 million. Altair Engineering had a return on equity of 5.60% and a net margin of 1.55%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.13 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Altair Engineering Inc. will post 0.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Altair Engineering

In other news, Director Teresa A. Harris sold 620 shares of Altair Engineering stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.89, for a total value of $51,391.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 18,895 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,566,206.55. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Altair Engineering news, CEO James Ralph Scapa sold 13,000 shares of Altair Engineering stock in a transaction on Friday, June 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.26, for a total transaction of $1,277,380.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 134,045 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,171,261.70. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Teresa A. Harris sold 620 shares of Altair Engineering stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.89, for a total value of $51,391.80. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 18,895 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,566,206.55. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 467,254 shares of company stock worth $43,396,100. 21.75% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in ALTR. Comerica Bank bought a new position in shares of Altair Engineering in the 3rd quarter worth $11,051,000. Wellington Management Group LLP purchased a new position in Altair Engineering during the 3rd quarter worth $37,487,000. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky purchased a new position in Altair Engineering during the 3rd quarter worth $1,049,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Altair Engineering by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,727,942 shares of the software’s stock worth $358,340,000 after buying an additional 179,838 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Trust N.A. purchased a new position in Altair Engineering during the 4th quarter worth $253,000. 63.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.