Royal Bank of Canada Reiterates “Sector Perform” Rating for Altair Engineering (NASDAQ:ALTR)

Royal Bank of Canada restated their sector perform rating on shares of Altair Engineering (NASDAQ:ALTR) in a research report report published on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. Royal Bank of Canada currently has a $90.00 price target on the software’s stock.

Several other analysts also recently commented on ALTR. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded 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. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $100.00 price target on shares of Altair Engineering in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded Altair Engineering from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and lowered their price objective 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, three have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $90.67.

Altair Engineering Stock Performance

Shares of ALTR opened at $103.44 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $92.65 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $90.78. 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 has a 52 week low of $57.59 and a 52 week high of $112.15. The stock has a market cap of $8.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 1,149.33, a PEG ratio of 12.15 and a beta of 1.45.

Altair Engineering (NASDAQ:ALTR) last announced 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 return on equity of 6.89% and a net margin of 4.26%. The company had revenue of $148.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $146.88 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.15) EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Altair Engineering will post 0.65 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Altair Engineering

In related news, major shareholder Christ Revocable Trust sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.57, for a total value of $10,657,000.00. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Altair Engineering news, CEO James Ralph Scapa sold 13,000 shares of Altair Engineering stock in a transaction on Monday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.11, for a total value of $1,145,430.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 134,045 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,810,704.95. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder Christ Revocable Trust sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.57, for a total transaction of $10,657,000.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 360,360 shares of company stock valued at $35,194,300. Corporate insiders own 21.75% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ALTR. William Blair Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Altair Engineering in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $91,589,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in Altair Engineering by 121.7% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 569,109 shares of the software’s stock valued at $55,818,000 after buying an additional 312,448 shares during the period. Jane Street Group LLC lifted its position in Altair Engineering by 960.2% in the first quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 303,672 shares of the software’s stock worth $26,161,000 after buying an additional 275,030 shares during the last quarter. Matrix Capital Management Company LP boosted its stake 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 worth $1,070,844,000 after buying an additional 196,826 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Altair Engineering by 772.7% during the second quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 212,560 shares of the software’s stock valued at $20,848,000 after acquiring an additional 188,203 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 63.38% of the company’s stock.

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.