Principal Financial Group Inc. Acquires 18,089 Shares of Altair Engineering Inc. (NASDAQ:ALTR)

Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Altair Engineering Inc. (NASDAQ:ALTR) by 288.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 24,357 shares of the software’s stock after buying an additional 18,089 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Altair Engineering were worth $2,098,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ALTR. Matrix Capital Management Company LP grew its stake in Altair Engineering by 8.3% in the 4th 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. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Altair Engineering by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,761,445 shares of the software’s stock valued at $484,826,000 after buying an additional 33,503 shares in the last quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Altair Engineering by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,440,081 shares of the software’s stock valued at $210,213,000 after purchasing an additional 15,370 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in Altair Engineering by 97.3% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,182,339 shares of the software’s stock valued at $99,494,000 after purchasing an additional 583,127 shares during the period. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in Altair Engineering by 22.8% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 951,698 shares of the software’s stock valued at $59,538,000 after purchasing an additional 176,780 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 63.38% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Altair Engineering news, CEO James Ralph Scapa sold 13,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.26, for a total value of $1,277,380.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 134,045 shares in the company, valued at $13,171,261.70. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Altair Engineering news, CEO James Ralph Scapa sold 13,000 shares of Altair Engineering stock in a transaction on Friday, June 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.26, for a total value of $1,277,380.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 134,045 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,171,261.70. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Brian Gayle sold 773 shares of Altair Engineering stock in a transaction on Friday, May 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.10, for a total transaction of $69,647.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 18,423 shares in the company, valued at $1,659,912.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 479,417 shares of company stock worth $44,432,928. Company insiders own 21.75% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Altair Engineering Stock Up 0.1 %

ALTR traded up $0.12 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $98.26. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 39,082 shares, compared to its average volume of 501,889. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 1,090.44, a PEG ratio of 12.34 and a beta of 1.48. 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 Inc. has a 1 year low of $57.59 and a 1 year high of $100.79. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $90.96 and its 200-day moving average is $86.49.

Altair Engineering (NASDAQ:ALTR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The software reported $0.40 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.06. Altair Engineering had a net margin of 1.55% and a return on equity of 5.60%. The firm had revenue of $172.91 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $169.29 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.13 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Altair Engineering Inc. will post 0.66 EPS for the current year.

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.