Principal Financial Group Inc. Has $2.10 Million Stock Holdings in Altair Engineering Inc. (NASDAQ:ALTR)

Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Altair Engineering Inc. (NASDAQ:ALTR) by 288.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 24,357 shares of the software’s stock after purchasing an additional 18,089 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Altair Engineering were worth $2,098,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in ALTR. Matrix Capital Management Company LP increased its holdings in shares of Altair Engineering by 8.3% in the fourth quarter. Matrix Capital Management Company LP now owns 12,233,174 shares of the software’s stock worth $1,029,422,000 after acquiring an additional 932,717 shares in the last quarter. Bain Capital Public Equity Management II LLC bought a new stake in shares of Altair Engineering in the fourth quarter worth about $57,728,000. Wellington Management Group LLP bought a new stake in shares of Altair Engineering in the third quarter worth about $37,487,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Altair Engineering by 3.2% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,727,942 shares of the software’s stock worth $358,340,000 after acquiring an additional 179,838 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Altair Engineering by 22.8% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 951,698 shares of the software’s stock worth $59,538,000 after acquiring an additional 176,780 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 63.38% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $88.00 price objective on shares of Altair Engineering in a report on Monday, April 29th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $100.00 price objective on shares of Altair Engineering in a report on Friday, May 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Altair Engineering from $86.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $90.00 price objective on shares of Altair Engineering in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $94.60.

Altair Engineering Stock Performance

NASDAQ:ALTR traded up $0.12 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $98.26. 39,082 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 501,889. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 1,090.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 12.34 and a beta of 1.48. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $90.96 and its 200 day simple moving average is $86.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 2.46 and a current ratio of 2.46. Altair Engineering Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $57.59 and a fifty-two week high of $100.79.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, major shareholder George J. Christ sold 12,783 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.85, for a total transaction of $1,097,420.55. Following the sale, the insider now owns 187,217 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,072,579.45. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, CMO Amy Messano sold 19,852 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.51, for a total value of $1,796,804.52. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 18,141 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,641,941.91. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder George J. Christ sold 12,783 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.85, for a total value of $1,097,420.55. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 187,217 shares in the company, valued at $16,072,579.45. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 479,417 shares of company stock worth $44,432,928. Insiders own 21.75% 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.