Atkore Inc. (NYSE:ATKR) Short Interest Up 8.6% in December

Atkore Inc. (NYSE:ATKR) saw a large growth in short interest during the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,890,000 shares, a growth of 8.6% from the November 30th total of 2,660,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 642,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.5 days. Approximately 8.4% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Atkore news, VP Daniel S. Kelly sold 13,071 shares of Atkore stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.74, for a total transaction of $1,251,417.54. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 27,528 shares in the company, valued at $2,635,530.72. The trade was a 32.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Mark F. Lamps sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.55, for a total transaction of $48,275.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 27,626 shares in the company, valued at $2,667,290.30. This trade represents a 1.78 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 16,924 shares of company stock worth $1,614,975 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 1.99% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Atkore

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Quarry LP bought a new position in Atkore in the 2nd quarter valued at $57,000. Signaturefd LLC lifted its stake in shares of Atkore by 445.6% during the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 491 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 401 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC lifted its stake in shares of Atkore by 829.9% during the second quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 902 shares of the company’s stock valued at $122,000 after acquiring an additional 805 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd boosted its holdings in Atkore by 63.7% in the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,002 shares of the company’s stock valued at $85,000 after acquiring an additional 390 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pinnacle Associates Ltd. acquired a new stake in Atkore in the third quarter worth about $126,000.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on ATKR shares. Loop Capital lowered their target price on shares of Atkore from $130.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. B. Riley cut Atkore from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $135.00 to $84.00 in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Roth Mkm began coverage on Atkore in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $100.00 price target on the stock. KeyCorp dropped their price objective on Atkore from $125.00 to $105.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Finally, Roth Capital raised Atkore to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $115.67.

Atkore Price Performance

ATKR traded up $0.75 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $83.45. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 323,044 shares, compared to its average volume of 625,388. The company has a quick ratio of 1.96, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.61 and a beta of 2.10. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $88.74 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $100.82. Atkore has a 12 month low of $76.01 and a 12 month high of $194.98.

Atkore (NYSE:ATKR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The company reported $2.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.08 by ($0.06). Atkore had a net margin of 14.77% and a return on equity of 32.14%. The business had revenue of $788.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $749.49 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.63 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Atkore will post 6.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Atkore Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th were paid a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.53%. Atkore’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 10.13%.

Atkore Company Profile

Atkore Inc engages in the manufacture and sale of electrical, mechanical, safety, and infrastructure products and solutions in the United States and internationally. The company offers conduits, cables, and installation accessories. It also designs and manufactures protection and reliability solutions for critical infrastructure, such as metal framing, mechanical pipe, perimeter security, and cable management.