Short Interest in Altair Engineering Inc. (NASDAQ:ALTR) Grows By 25.9%

Altair Engineering Inc. (NASDAQ:ALTR) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in 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 daily volume of 764,500 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 6.7 days.

Altair Engineering Price Performance

Shares of ALTR stock opened at $111.32 on Thursday. Altair Engineering has a 1 year low of $75.71 and a 1 year high of $113.12. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $110.49 and a 200-day moving average price of $102.79. The company has a market cap of $9.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 654.82, a PEG ratio of 10.75 and a beta of 1.45.

Altair Engineering (NASDAQ:ALTR) last issued its quarterly 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). Altair Engineering had a return on equity of 8.08% and a net margin of 2.13%. The company had revenue of $192.63 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $182.98 million. Equities research analysts expect that Altair Engineering will post 0.87 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Altair Engineering

In related news, CFO Matthew Charles Brown sold 742 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.45, for a total value of $82,695.90. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 68,652 shares in the company, valued at $7,651,265.40. The trade was a 1.07 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CMO Amy Messano sold 235 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.53, for a total transaction of $26,209.55. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 23,651 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,637,796.03. This represents a 0.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 32,855 shares of company stock valued at $3,542,373 in the last ninety days. 21.75% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Altair Engineering

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ALTR. Magnetar Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Altair Engineering in the 4th quarter worth $62,142,000. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Altair Engineering in the 4th quarter worth approximately $37,899,000. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Altair Engineering by 13,097.8% in 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 holdings in Altair Engineering by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,894,230 shares of the software’s stock valued at $752,229,000 after buying an additional 317,575 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Woodline Partners LP purchased a new position in Altair Engineering during the fourth quarter valued at $32,733,000. 63.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ALTR has been the topic of several analyst reports. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $113.00 price objective on shares of Altair Engineering in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated 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 given a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Altair Engineering has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average 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.