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

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

Altair Engineering Price Performance

Shares of Altair Engineering stock opened at $111.11 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $110.49 and its 200-day simple moving average is $102.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 653.59, a PEG ratio of 10.75 and a beta of 1.45. Altair Engineering has a 12 month low of $75.71 and a 12 month high of $113.12.

Altair Engineering (NASDAQ:ALTR) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The software reported $0.36 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by ($0.15). The business had revenue of $192.63 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $182.98 million. Altair Engineering had a net margin of 2.13% and a return on equity of 8.08%. Analysts anticipate that Altair Engineering will post 0.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on ALTR shares. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $113.00 price target on shares of Altair Engineering in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Altair Engineering in a research report on Friday, February 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $100.83.

Insider Buying and Selling at Altair Engineering

In related news, CRO Nelson Dias sold 22,500 shares of Altair Engineering stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.23, for a total value of $2,390,175.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive now owns 48,437 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,145,462.51. The trade was a 31.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CMO Amy Messano sold 235 shares of Altair Engineering stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.53, for a total transaction of $26,209.55. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 23,651 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,637,796.03. This trade represents a 0.98 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 33,305 shares of company stock worth $3,592,359 over the last three months. Insiders own 21.75% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Altair Engineering

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ALTR. Magnetar Financial LLC acquired a new position in Altair Engineering in the 4th quarter valued at $62,142,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Altair Engineering during the 4th quarter worth $37,899,000. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Altair Engineering by 13,097.8% during the 4th quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 331,528 shares of the software’s stock worth $36,173,000 after purchasing an additional 329,016 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Altair Engineering by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,894,230 shares of the software’s stock worth $752,229,000 after purchasing an additional 317,575 shares during the period. Finally, Woodline Partners LP acquired a new position in shares of Altair Engineering during the 4th quarter worth $32,733,000. 63.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.