Altair Engineering (NASDAQ:ALTR) Sees Unusually-High Trading Volume Following Earnings Beat

Altair Engineering Inc. (NASDAQ:ALTR) shares saw unusually-high trading volume on Thursday following a stronger than expected earnings report. Approximately 1,206,100 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 149% from the previous session’s volume of 484,657 shares.The stock last traded at $103.81 and had previously closed at $108.63.

The software reported $0.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.02 by $0.07. Altair Engineering had a net margin of 4.26% and a return on equity of 6.89%. The business had revenue of $151.45 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $146.55 million.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on ALTR. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded Altair Engineering from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $85.00 to $71.00 in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating and set a $100.00 target price on shares of Altair Engineering in a research note on Thursday. Rosenblatt Securities upped their target price on Altair Engineering from $88.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. William Blair reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Altair Engineering in a report on Thursday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Altair Engineering from $90.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $100.71.

Insider Activity

In related news, major shareholder Christ Revocable Trust sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.57, for a total value of $10,657,000.00. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Altair Engineering news, major shareholder Jrs Investments Llc sold 6,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.59, for a total transaction of $666,835.00. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder Christ Revocable Trust sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.57, for a total value of $10,657,000.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 360,360 shares of company stock worth $35,476,660 in the last quarter. 21.75% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ALTR. Matrix Capital Management Company LP grew its stake in shares of Altair Engineering by 1.6% in the first quarter. Matrix Capital Management Company LP now owns 12,430,000 shares of the software’s stock worth $1,070,844,000 after acquiring an additional 196,826 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Altair Engineering by 3.2% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,944,285 shares of the software’s stock worth $512,100,000 after purchasing an additional 182,840 shares in the last quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Altair Engineering by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,522,551 shares of the software’s stock worth $240,929,000 after purchasing an additional 33,985 shares in the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Altair Engineering during the 2nd quarter valued at about $91,589,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in Altair Engineering by 121.7% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 569,109 shares of the software’s stock valued at $55,818,000 after purchasing an additional 312,448 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 63.38% of the company’s stock.

Altair Engineering Price Performance

The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $94.03 and its 200-day simple moving average is $91.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.63 billion, a PE ratio of 1,155.44, a PEG ratio of 12.15 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a quick ratio of 3.14, a current ratio of 3.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

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.