Principal Financial Group Inc. Lowers Position in Altair Engineering Inc. (NASDAQ:ALTR)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Altair Engineering Inc. (NASDAQ:ALTR - Free Report) by 22.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 165,793 shares of the software's stock after selling 46,767 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.20% of Altair Engineering worth $15,835,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in Altair Engineering by 572.1% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 289 shares of the software's stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 246 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 188 shares during the period. FSC Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 243 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 311 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Altair Engineering during the 1st quarter worth $177,000. Institutional investors own 63.38% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, major shareholder Christ Revocable Trust sold 50,048 shares of Altair Engineering stock in a transaction on Friday, September 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.07, for a total value of $4,758,063.36. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 149,952 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $14,255,936.64. This trade represents a 25.02 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Ravi Kunju sold 360 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.65, for a total transaction of $37,314.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 30,305 shares in the company, valued at $3,141,113.25. This trade represents a 1.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 362,544 shares of company stock valued at $35,717,201. Insiders own 21.75% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on ALTR shares. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "hold" rating and issued a $100.00 target price on shares of Altair Engineering in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Wolfe Research cut Altair Engineering from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Sunday, November 3rd. William Blair reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of Altair Engineering in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Altair Engineering from $90.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut Altair Engineering from a "neutral" rating to a "sell" rating and decreased their target price for the company from $85.00 to $71.00 in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $100.71.

Altair Engineering Trading Up 0.0 %

NASDAQ ALTR traded up $0.03 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $103.75. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,392,596 shares, compared to its average volume of 577,338. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $97.40 and a 200-day simple moving average of $93.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 3.27 and a quick ratio of 3.27. Altair Engineering Inc. has a 52 week low of $68.87 and a 52 week high of $113.12. The stock has a market cap of $8.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 273.03, a P/E/G ratio of 11.93 and a beta of 1.44.

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.