Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC Buys 15,200 Shares of Altair Engineering Inc. (NASDAQ:ALTR)

Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Altair Engineering Inc. (NASDAQ:ALTR - Free Report) by 0.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,424,711 shares of the software's stock after buying an additional 15,200 shares during the period. Altair Engineering accounts for 3.1% of Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest position. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC owned about 2.97% of Altair Engineering worth $204,039,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ALTR. Wellington Management Group LLP bought a new stake in shares of Altair Engineering during the 3rd quarter valued at about $37,487,000. Fred Alger Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Altair Engineering by 9,727.3% during the 1st quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 350,345 shares of the software's stock valued at $25,263,000 after acquiring an additional 346,780 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. boosted its position in shares of Altair Engineering by 7.5% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 4,879,144 shares of the software's stock valued at $314,217,000 after acquiring an additional 339,610 shares during the last quarter. Eaton Vance Management boosted its position in shares of Altair Engineering by 24.9% during the 1st quarter. Eaton Vance Management now owns 1,228,336 shares of the software's stock valued at $79,104,000 after acquiring an additional 244,872 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Altair Engineering during the 4th quarter valued at about $10,087,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 63.38% of the company's stock.

Altair Engineering Trading Down 3.5 %

Altair Engineering stock traded down $3.01 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $82.13. The company had a trading volume of 356,931 shares, compared to its average volume of 420,686. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 2.16 and a quick ratio of 2.16. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $85.48 and a 200 day moving average price of $77.25. The firm has a market cap of $6.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -631.77, a P/E/G ratio of 11.46 and a beta of 1.42. Altair Engineering Inc. has a 12-month low of $57.59 and a 12-month high of $92.92.

Altair Engineering (NASDAQ:ALTR - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The software reported $0.29 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.22 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $171.50 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $172.48 million. Altair Engineering had a positive return on equity of 3.77% and a negative net margin of 1.46%. Equities analysts forecast that Altair Engineering Inc. will post 0.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO James Ralph Scapa sold 10,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.07, for a total transaction of $910,700.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 103,591 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,434,032.37. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, CEO James Ralph Scapa sold 10,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.07, for a total transaction of $910,700.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 103,591 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,434,032.37. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, major shareholder Christ Revocable Trust sold 3,904 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.42, for a total value of $333,479.68. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 283,336 shares in the company, valued at $24,202,561.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 264,047 shares of company stock valued at $22,766,850. Company insiders own 22.17% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ALTR has been the topic of a number of research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a "sector perform" rating and set a $90.00 price objective on shares of Altair Engineering in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating and set a $100.00 price objective on shares of Altair Engineering in a report on Monday, March 25th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Altair Engineering from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, February 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Altair Engineering from $86.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $88.00 price objective (up from $74.00) on shares of Altair Engineering in a report on Friday, February 23rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Altair Engineering currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $88.71.

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.