Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. Makes New Investment in Altair Engineering Inc. (NASDAQ:ALTR)

Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Altair Engineering Inc. (NASDAQ:ALTR) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 50,000 shares of the software’s stock, valued at approximately $5,456,000. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. owned approximately 0.06% of Altair Engineering at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System raised its position in Altair Engineering by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 16,600 shares of the software’s stock worth $1,811,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System raised its position in Altair Engineering by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 8,600 shares of the software’s stock worth $938,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System raised its position in Altair Engineering by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 14,200 shares of the software’s stock worth $1,549,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its position in Altair Engineering by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 14,065 shares of the software’s stock worth $1,535,000 after acquiring an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NBT Bank N A NY raised its position in Altair Engineering by 76.4% during the fourth quarter. NBT Bank N A NY now owns 247 shares of the software’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 107 shares in the last quarter. 63.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Altair Engineering

In related news, CRO Nelson Dias sold 1,671 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.30, for a total value of $185,982.30. Following the transaction, the executive now directly owns 55,411 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,167,244.30. This represents a 2.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Teresa A. Harris sold 2,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $111.61, for a total transaction of $301,347.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 18,542 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,069,472.62. This represents a 12.71% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 12,172 shares of company stock worth $1,356,847. Corporate insiders own 21.75% of the company’s stock.

Altair Engineering Price Performance

NASDAQ:ALTR opened at $111.85 on Monday. Altair Engineering Inc. has a one year low of $75.71 and a one year high of $113.12. The company has a market cap of $9.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 657.94, a P/E/G ratio of 10.75 and a beta of 1.45. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $111.85 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $109.89.

Altair Engineering (NASDAQ:ALTR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The software reported $0.36 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.51 by ($0.15). Altair Engineering had a net margin of 2.13% and a return on equity of 8.08%. The company had revenue of $192.63 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $182.98 million. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Altair Engineering Inc. will post 0.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $113.00 price target on shares of Altair Engineering in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Altair Engineering in a report on Friday, February 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $100.83.

Altair Engineering Profile

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.