Altair Engineering (NASDAQ:ALTR) Shares Gap Down to $85.32

Altair Engineering Inc. (NASDAQ:ALTR)’s stock price gapped down before the market opened on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $85.32, but opened at $75.71. Altair Engineering shares last traded at $83.76, with a volume of 75,532 shares trading hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on ALTR. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Altair Engineering from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $95.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Monday, July 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered Altair Engineering from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and cut their target price for the company from $85.00 to $71.00 in a research report on Friday. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $88.00 target price on shares of Altair Engineering in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $100.00 target price on shares of Altair Engineering in a research report on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $90.67.

Altair Engineering Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 2.46, a quick ratio of 2.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 914.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 11.11 and a beta of 1.48. The company has a 50-day moving average of $93.54 and a 200-day moving average of $88.16.

Altair Engineering (NASDAQ:ALTR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The software reported $0.40 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.06. Altair Engineering had a return on equity of 5.60% and a net margin of 1.55%. The company had revenue of $172.91 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $169.29 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.13 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Altair Engineering Inc. will post 0.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder George J. Christ sold 87,217 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.12, for a total value of $7,423,911.04. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 100,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,512,000. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, Director Teresa A. Harris sold 620 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.89, for a total transaction of $51,391.80. Following the transaction, the director now owns 18,895 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,566,206.55. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder George J. Christ sold 87,217 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.12, for a total transaction of $7,423,911.04. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 100,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,512,000. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 486,754 shares of company stock worth $45,114,245. Corporate insiders own 21.75% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Altair Engineering

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund acquired a new stake in shares of Altair Engineering in the second quarter worth $1,157,000. Rhumbline Advisers boosted its stake in Altair Engineering by 127.2% during the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 178,788 shares of the software’s stock worth $17,536,000 after buying an additional 100,106 shares in the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Altair Engineering by 2.9% during the second quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 18,251 shares of the software’s stock valued at $1,790,000 after acquiring an additional 520 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Altair Engineering by 41.7% during the second 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 during the period. Finally, Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. bought a new position in shares of Altair Engineering during the second quarter valued at $318,000. 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.