Altair Engineering Inc. (NASDAQ:ALTR) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Altair Engineering Inc. (NASDAQ:ALTR – Get Rating) was the target of a large increase in short interest in the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 2,570,000 shares, an increase of 6.2% from the February 13th total of 2,420,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 296,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 8.7 days.

Altair Engineering Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ALTR opened at $67.00 on Thursday. Altair Engineering has a fifty-two week low of $43.17 and a fifty-two week high of $67.61. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $56.42 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $50.42. The company has a quick ratio of 2.26, a current ratio of 2.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The firm has a market cap of $5.36 billion, a PE ratio of -115.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 20.82 and a beta of 1.45.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Altair Engineering from $39.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, February 27th. Loop Capital lifted their price target on Altair Engineering from $60.00 to $70.00 in a research note on Friday, February 24th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their target price on Altair Engineering from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 24th. TheStreet raised Altair Engineering from a “d+” rating to a “c” rating in a report on Friday, February 24th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price target on Altair Engineering from $63.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Altair Engineering has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $64.33.

Insider Transactions at Altair Engineering

In other news, major shareholder George J. Christ sold 49,818 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.77, for a total transaction of $3,226,711.86. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Altair Engineering news, CEO James Ralph Scapa sold 35,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.45, for a total value of $1,695,750.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 83,962 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,067,958.90. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder George J. Christ sold 49,818 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.77, for a total value of $3,226,711.86. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 212,194 shares of company stock worth $11,826,127. 22.65% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Altair Engineering

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of ALTR. Matrix Capital Management Company LP grew its stake in Altair Engineering by 8.1% during the 2nd quarter. Matrix Capital Management Company LP now owns 9,300,000 shares of the software’s stock valued at $488,250,000 after purchasing an additional 700,000 shares in the last quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc grew its stake in Altair Engineering by 18.6% during the 4th quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 2,882,029 shares of the software’s stock valued at $130,377,000 after purchasing an additional 452,632 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. grew its stake in Altair Engineering by 7.5% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 4,879,144 shares of the software’s stock valued at $314,217,000 after purchasing an additional 339,610 shares in the last quarter. Eaton Vance Management grew its stake in Altair Engineering by 24.9% during the 1st quarter. Eaton Vance Management now owns 1,228,336 shares of the software’s stock valued at $79,104,000 after purchasing an additional 244,872 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in Altair Engineering during the 4th quarter worth approximately $10,087,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 61.66% of the company’s stock.

About Altair Engineering

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Altair Engineering, Inc engages in the provision of software and cloud solutions for product design & development, high performance cloud computing, and data intelligence. It operates through the following segments: Software and Client Engineering Services. The Software segment includes a portfolio of software products, as well as solvers and optimization technology products, modelling and visualization tools.