George J. Christ Sells 12,760 Shares of Altair Engineering Inc. (NASDAQ:ALTR) Stock

Altair Engineering Inc. (NASDAQ:ALTR) major shareholder George J. Christ sold 12,760 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.71, for a total transaction of $1,106,419.60. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 287,240 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,906,580.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Large shareholders that own at least 10% of a company’s stock are required to disclose their transactions with the SEC.

George J. Christ also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, January 23rd, George J. Christ sold 100,000 shares of Altair Engineering stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.32, for a total transaction of $8,732,000.00.

Altair Engineering Price Performance

ALTR opened at $86.27 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $85.79 and its 200 day simple moving average is $75.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 2.16 and a current ratio of 2.16. Altair Engineering Inc. has a 1 year low of $57.59 and a 1 year high of $92.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.12 billion, a PE ratio of -663.62, a P/E/G ratio of 11.78 and a beta of 1.43.

Altair Engineering (NASDAQ:ALTR) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The software reported $0.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.22 by $0.07. Altair Engineering had a negative net margin of 1.46% and a positive return on equity of 3.77%. The business had revenue of $171.50 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $172.48 million. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Altair Engineering Inc. will post 0.6 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have weighed in on ALTR shares. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “neutral” rating and set a $88.00 target price (up from $74.00) on shares of Altair Engineering in a report on Friday, February 23rd. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $100.00 price target on shares of Altair Engineering in a report on Monday. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $90.00 price target on shares of Altair Engineering in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Altair Engineering from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Altair Engineering from $86.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Altair Engineering currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $88.71.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Altair Engineering

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Matrix Capital Management Company LP lifted its position in Altair Engineering by 8.3% during the fourth quarter. Matrix Capital Management Company LP now owns 12,233,174 shares of the software’s stock valued at $1,029,422,000 after buying an additional 932,717 shares in the last quarter. Bain Capital Public Equity Management II LLC acquired a new position in Altair Engineering during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $57,728,000. Wellington Management Group LLP acquired a new position in Altair Engineering during the third quarter valued at approximately $37,487,000. Fred Alger Management LLC lifted its position in Altair Engineering by 9,727.3% during the first quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 350,345 shares of the software’s stock valued at $25,263,000 after buying an additional 346,780 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BlackRock Inc. lifted its position in Altair Engineering by 7.5% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 4,879,144 shares of the software’s stock valued at $314,217,000 after buying an additional 339,610 shares in the last quarter. 63.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.