George J. Christ Sells 87,217 Shares of Altair Engineering Inc. (NASDAQ:ALTR) Stock

Altair Engineering Inc. (NASDAQ:ALTR) major shareholder George J. Christ sold 87,217 shares of Altair Engineering stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.12, for a total transaction of $7,423,911.04. Following 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 SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Major shareholders that own at least 10% of a company’s stock are required to disclose their sales and purchases with the SEC.

Altair Engineering Price Performance

Shares of ALTR opened at $85.68 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.07 billion, a PE ratio of 952.00, a P/E/G ratio of 10.86 and a beta of 1.42. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $83.22 and its two-hundred day moving average is $79.88. Altair Engineering Inc. has a twelve month low of $57.59 and a twelve month high of $92.92. The company has a current ratio of 2.46, a quick ratio of 2.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30.

Altair Engineering (NASDAQ:ALTR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The software reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $172.91 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $169.29 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.13 earnings per share. Altair Engineering’s quarterly revenue was up 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Altair Engineering Inc. will post 0.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have issued reports on ALTR shares. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $90.00 price target on shares of Altair Engineering in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $88.00 price target on shares of Altair Engineering in a report on Monday, April 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Altair Engineering from $86.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Oppenheimer upped their target price on Altair Engineering from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $100.00 price objective on shares of Altair Engineering in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $94.60.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Altair Engineering

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in ALTR. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Altair Engineering by 9.2% in the first quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 10,059 shares of the software’s stock valued at $867,000 after buying an additional 844 shares in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its stake in Altair Engineering by 5,564.8% in the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 31,043 shares of the software’s stock valued at $2,676,000 after purchasing an additional 30,495 shares in the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Altair Engineering by 9.5% during the first quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 20,532 shares of the software’s stock worth $1,769,000 after purchasing an additional 1,781 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. boosted its position in Altair Engineering by 40.6% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 30,813 shares of the software’s stock worth $2,655,000 after purchasing an additional 8,905 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swiss National Bank grew its holdings in Altair Engineering by 1.2% in the first quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 107,800 shares of the software’s stock valued at $9,287,000 after purchasing an additional 1,300 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 63.38% of the company’s stock.

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.