William Blair Investment Management LLC Takes $91.59 Million Position in Altair Engineering Inc. (NASDAQ:ALTR)

William Blair Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Altair Engineering Inc. (NASDAQ:ALTR) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 933,818 shares of the software’s stock, valued at approximately $91,589,000. William Blair Investment Management LLC owned approximately 1.12% of Altair Engineering as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of ALTR. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of Altair Engineering by 81.7% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 418 shares of the software’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 188 shares in the last quarter. FSC Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Altair Engineering by 41.3% during the 2nd quarter. FSC Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 832 shares of the software’s stock worth $82,000 after acquiring an additional 243 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in Altair Engineering by 41.7% during the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,057 shares of the software’s stock valued at $104,000 after purchasing an additional 311 shares during the period. Natixis Investment Managers International raised its holdings in shares of Altair Engineering by 68.7% in the 4th quarter. Natixis Investment Managers International now owns 1,940 shares of the software’s stock valued at $163,000 after purchasing an additional 790 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of Altair Engineering in the 1st quarter valued at about $177,000. 63.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Altair Engineering Price Performance

Shares of ALTR opened at $88.02 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $89.57 and a two-hundred day moving average of $88.26. 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 Inc. has a twelve month low of $57.59 and a twelve month high of $101.39. The company has a market cap of $7.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 978.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 10.94 and a beta of 1.45.

Altair Engineering (NASDAQ:ALTR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The software reported $0.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $148.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $146.88 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($0.15) EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Altair Engineering Inc. will post 0.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Altair Engineering

In related news, major shareholder George J. Christ sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.40, for a total value of $9,840,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 200,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,680,000. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Altair Engineering news, CEO James Ralph Scapa sold 13,000 shares of Altair Engineering stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.26, for a total transaction of $1,277,380.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 134,045 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,171,261.70. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder George J. Christ sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.40, for a total value of $9,840,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 200,000 shares in the company, valued at $19,680,000. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 153,860 shares of company stock worth $14,739,205. Insiders own 21.75% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on ALTR shares. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of Altair Engineering from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $85.00 to $71.00 in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Altair Engineering from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $95.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Monday, July 15th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $100.00 price objective on shares of Altair Engineering in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $90.67.

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.