Needham & Company LLC Reiterates Buy Rating for Altair Engineering (NASDAQ:ALTR)

Altair Engineering (NASDAQ:ALTR)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by Needham & Company LLC in a research note issued to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $100.00 price objective on the software’s stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price target suggests a potential upside of 17.21% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other research analysts have also commented on ALTR. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of Altair Engineering from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $95.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Monday, July 15th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $88.00 target price on shares of Altair Engineering in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut Altair Engineering from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $85.00 to $71.00 in a report on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Altair Engineering has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $90.67.

Altair Engineering Stock Down 3.4 %

ALTR stock opened at $85.32 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $93.54 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $88.16. Altair Engineering has a twelve month low of $57.59 and a twelve month high of $101.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.08 billion, a PE ratio of 948.00, a PEG ratio of 11.11 and a beta of 1.48. The company has a quick ratio of 2.46, a current ratio of 2.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30.

Altair Engineering (NASDAQ:ALTR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The software reported $0.40 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.06. Altair Engineering had a net margin of 1.55% and a return on equity of 5.60%. The company had revenue of $172.91 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $169.29 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.13 earnings per share. Altair Engineering’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Altair Engineering will post 0.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Altair Engineering

In other news, major shareholder George J. Christ sold 87,217 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the insider now 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 accessible through the SEC website. In other news, major shareholder George J. Christ sold 87,217 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.12, for a total transaction of $7,423,911.04. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 100,000 shares in the company, valued at $8,512,000. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Teresa A. Harris sold 620 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.89, for a total value of $51,391.80. Following the transaction, the director now owns 18,895 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,566,206.55. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 486,754 shares of company stock worth $45,114,245. Company insiders own 21.75% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Altair Engineering

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Altair Engineering by 81.7% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 418 shares of the software’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 188 shares during the period. American International Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Altair Engineering by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. American International Group Inc. now owns 27,018 shares of the software’s stock worth $2,274,000 after acquiring an additional 189 shares in the last quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Altair Engineering by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 17,333 shares of the software’s stock valued at $1,458,000 after purchasing an additional 229 shares during the period. FSC Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Altair Engineering by 41.3% during the second quarter. FSC Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 832 shares of the software’s stock valued at $82,000 after purchasing an additional 243 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in Altair Engineering by 41.7% in the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,057 shares of the software’s stock worth $104,000 after purchasing an additional 311 shares during the period. 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.