Short Interest in Altair Engineering Inc. (NASDAQ:ALTR) Expands By 5.4%

Altair Engineering Inc. (NASDAQ:ALTR) saw a significant increase in short interest in the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 3,320,000 shares, an increase of 5.4% from the November 15th total of 3,150,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 870,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.8 days.

Altair Engineering Stock Performance

Shares of ALTR stock opened at $106.85 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $103.32 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $95.92. Altair Engineering has a one year low of $73.33 and a one year high of $113.12. The stock has a market cap of $9.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 281.18, a P/E/G ratio of 12.16 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 3.27 and a quick ratio of 3.27.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CRO Nelson Dias sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.23, for a total transaction of $2,390,175.00. Following the sale, the executive now owns 48,437 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,145,462.51. This trade represents a 31.72 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO James Ralph Scapa sold 13,000 shares of Altair Engineering stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.10, for a total value of $1,236,300.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 134,045 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,747,679.50. This represents a 8.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 400,519 shares of company stock worth $40,076,873. Company insiders own 21.75% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Altair Engineering

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in Altair Engineering by 1.4% in the third quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,522,551 shares of the software’s stock valued at $240,929,000 after buying an additional 33,985 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Altair Engineering by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,053,957 shares of the software’s stock valued at $196,173,000 after purchasing an additional 65,589 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Altair Engineering by 3.9% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,423,880 shares of the software’s stock worth $136,020,000 after purchasing an additional 53,088 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Altair Engineering in the second quarter valued at $91,589,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of Altair Engineering by 121.7% in the second 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 during the period. 63.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on ALTR shares. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $100.00 price objective on shares of Altair Engineering in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price objective on shares of Altair Engineering from $88.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Wolfe Research cut shares of Altair Engineering from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, November 3rd. William Blair reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Altair Engineering in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Altair Engineering from $90.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $100.71.

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.