Altair Engineering (NASDAQ:ALTR) Reaches New 12-Month High – Time to Buy?

Shares of Altair Engineering Inc. (NASDAQ:ALTR) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $104.97 and last traded at $102.52, with a volume of 253765 shares. The stock had previously closed at $95.18.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ALTR has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $100.00 price objective on shares of Altair Engineering in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded Altair Engineering from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $85.00 to $71.00 in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of Altair Engineering from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $95.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Monday, July 15th. One research 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $90.67.

Altair Engineering Stock Performance

The business’s fifty day moving average is $91.53 and its two-hundred day moving average is $90.28. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.55 billion, a PE ratio of 1,192.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 12.15 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a quick ratio of 3.14, a current ratio of 3.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

Altair Engineering (NASDAQ:ALTR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The software reported $0.16 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $148.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $146.88 million. Altair Engineering had a net margin of 4.26% and a return on equity of 6.89%. The business’s revenue was up 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted ($0.15) EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Altair Engineering Inc. will post 0.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Altair Engineering

In other Altair Engineering news, Director Teresa A. Harris sold 620 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the transaction, the director now owns 21,242 shares in the company, valued at $1,753,951.94. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, major shareholder George J. Christ sold 2,176 shares of Altair Engineering stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.31, for a total transaction of $207,394.56. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 300,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $28,593,000. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Teresa A. Harris sold 620 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.57, for a total value of $51,193.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 21,242 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,753,951.94. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 260,360 shares of company stock worth $24,537,300. 21.75% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Altair Engineering

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. William Blair Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Altair Engineering during the second quarter valued at $91,589,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of Altair Engineering by 121.7% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 569,109 shares of the software’s stock worth $55,818,000 after purchasing an additional 312,448 shares during the period. Jane Street Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Altair Engineering by 960.2% during the first quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 303,672 shares of the software’s stock valued at $26,161,000 after purchasing an additional 275,030 shares in the last quarter. Matrix Capital Management Company LP increased its holdings in Altair Engineering by 1.6% during the first quarter. Matrix Capital Management Company LP now owns 12,430,000 shares of the software’s stock valued at $1,070,844,000 after buying an additional 196,826 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Altair Engineering by 772.7% in the second quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 212,560 shares of the software’s stock worth $20,848,000 after buying an additional 188,203 shares in 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.