Short Interest in Atkore Inc. (NYSE:ATKR) Expands By 8.6%

Atkore Inc. (NYSE:ATKR) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in 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 sold short.

Insider Buying and Selling at Atkore

In other news, insider Mark F. Lamps sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.55, for a total value of $48,275.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 27,626 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,667,290.30. This represents a 1.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, 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 transaction, the vice president now owns 27,528 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,635,530.72. This trade represents a 32.20 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 16,924 shares of company stock valued at $1,614,975. Company insiders own 1.99% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Atkore

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ATKR. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in Atkore by 2.6% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 174,789 shares of the company’s stock worth $23,584,000 after purchasing an additional 4,441 shares during the period. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. purchased a new stake in shares of Atkore in the second quarter worth approximately $742,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Atkore in the second quarter worth approximately $347,000. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of Atkore by 3.2% during the 2nd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 4,115 shares of the company’s stock worth $555,000 after acquiring an additional 129 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in Atkore by 12.6% during the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 17,804 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,402,000 after acquiring an additional 1,988 shares during the period.

Atkore Price Performance

Atkore stock opened at $83.45 on Thursday. Atkore has a 52-week low of $76.01 and a 52-week high of $194.98. 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 firm’s fifty day moving average is $88.74 and its 200 day moving average is $100.82. The company has a market cap of $2.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.61 and a beta of 2.10.

Atkore (NYSE:ATKR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The company reported $2.02 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 previous year, the business posted $3.63 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Atkore will post 6.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Atkore Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ATKR has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Roth Capital raised Atkore to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. KeyCorp lowered their target price on shares of Atkore from $125.00 to $105.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 13th. Roth Mkm initiated coverage on shares of Atkore in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $100.00 target price for the company. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $102.00 price target (up from $93.00) on shares of Atkore in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, B. Riley downgraded shares of Atkore from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $135.00 to $84.00 in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $115.67.

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.