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

Altair Engineering Inc. (NASDAQ:ALTR - Get Free Report) saw a significant growth in short interest in February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 5,110,000 shares, a growth of 25.9% from the January 31st total of 4,060,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 764,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 6.7 days.

Altair Engineering Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of Altair Engineering stock traded up $0.13 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $111.24. The stock had a trading volume of 658,832 shares, compared to its average volume of 794,160. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $110.53 and a two-hundred day moving average of $102.84. Altair Engineering has a 12-month low of $75.71 and a 12-month high of $113.12. The firm has a market cap of $9.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 654.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 10.75 and a beta of 1.45.

Altair Engineering (NASDAQ:ALTR - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The software reported $0.36 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.51 by ($0.15). Altair Engineering had a net margin of 2.13% and a return on equity of 8.08%. The firm had revenue of $192.63 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $182.98 million. Sell-side analysts expect that Altair Engineering will post 0.87 earnings per share for the current year.

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Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Matthew Charles Brown sold 1,048 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $108.90, for a total value of $114,127.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 55,519 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,046,019.10. The trade was a 1.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Teresa A. Harris sold 2,700 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.61, for a total transaction of $301,347.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 18,542 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,069,472.62. This represents a 12.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 33,305 shares of company stock valued at $3,592,359 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 21.75% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Altair Engineering

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Magnetar Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Altair Engineering during the 4th quarter worth approximately $62,142,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Altair Engineering in the 4th quarter valued at $37,899,000. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Altair Engineering by 13,097.8% in the 4th quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 331,528 shares of the software's stock valued at $36,173,000 after purchasing an additional 329,016 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Altair Engineering by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,894,230 shares of the software's stock valued at $752,229,000 after purchasing an additional 317,575 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Woodline Partners LP acquired a new stake in shares of Altair Engineering in the 4th quarter valued at $32,733,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 63.38% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ALTR has been the subject of several research reports. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $113.00 price objective on shares of Altair Engineering in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of Altair Engineering in a research note on Friday, February 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have assigned a hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $100.83.

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.