Altair Engineering Inc. (NASDAQ:ALTR) Sees Significant Drop in Short Interest

Altair Engineering Inc. (NASDAQ:ALTR) saw a large drop in short interest during the month of July. As of July 31st, there was short interest totalling 4,190,000 shares, a drop of 6.1% from the July 15th total of 4,460,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 617,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 6.8 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered Altair Engineering from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $95.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Monday, July 15th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $100.00 target price on shares of Altair Engineering in a report on Friday, August 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of Altair Engineering from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and cut their price target for the company from $85.00 to $71.00 in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $88.00 price objective on shares of Altair Engineering in a research report on Monday, April 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $90.67.

Altair Engineering Stock Down 6.9 %

Shares of Altair Engineering stock opened at $85.84 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $7.13 billion, a PE ratio of 953.78, a P/E/G ratio of 10.73 and a beta of 1.48. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $93.02 and its 200 day simple moving average is $88.34. 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 has a 52-week low of $57.59 and a 52-week high of $101.39.

Altair Engineering (NASDAQ:ALTR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The software reported $0.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.01. Altair Engineering had a net margin of 4.26% and a return on equity of 7.11%. The company had revenue of $148.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $146.88 million. During the same period last year, the company earned ($0.15) earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Altair Engineering will post 0.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Teresa A. Harris sold 620 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.57, for a total value of $51,193.40. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 21,242 shares in the company, valued at $1,753,951.94. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, CAO Brian Gayle sold 1,866 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.57, for a total value of $180,199.62. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 16,557 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,598,909.49. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Teresa A. Harris sold 620 shares of Altair Engineering stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.57, for a total transaction of $51,193.40. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 21,242 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,753,951.94. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 259,235 shares of company stock valued at $25,040,275. 21.75% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Altair Engineering

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. EdgeRock Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Altair Engineering in the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in Altair Engineering by 81.7% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 418 shares of the software’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 188 shares in the last quarter. FSC Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Altair Engineering by 41.3% during the 2nd quarter. FSC Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 832 shares of the software’s stock worth $82,000 after purchasing an additional 243 shares during the last quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd raised its stake in shares of Altair Engineering by 1,157.7% during the 4th quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd now owns 981 shares of the software’s stock worth $83,000 after purchasing an additional 903 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Altair Engineering by 41.7% in the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,057 shares of the software’s stock valued at $104,000 after buying an additional 311 shares during the last quarter. 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.