Short Interest in Atkore Inc. (NYSE:ATKR) Decreases By 12.9%

Atkore Inc. (NYSE:ATKR) saw a significant decrease in short interest during the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,110,000 shares, a decrease of 12.9% from the October 31st total of 3,570,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 695,800 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.5 days. Currently, 9.1% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. B. Riley lowered shares of Atkore from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $135.00 to $84.00 in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Loop Capital cut their price target on Atkore from $130.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on Atkore from $99.00 to $93.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, KeyCorp reduced their target price on Atkore from $125.00 to $105.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $117.00.

Insider Transactions at Atkore

In other Atkore news, Director Jeri L. Isbell sold 3,353 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $94.03, for a total value of $315,282.59. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 25,585 shares in the company, valued at $2,405,757.55. This represents a 11.59 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Daniel S. Kelly sold 13,071 shares of Atkore stock in a transaction that occurred 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. This represents a 32.20 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 16,924 shares of company stock worth $1,614,975 in the last three months. 2.56% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Atkore

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ATKR. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its position in shares of Atkore by 315.6% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 13,402 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,551,000 after acquiring an additional 10,177 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC bought a new position in Atkore in the 1st quarter worth approximately $473,000. DNB Asset Management AS acquired a new stake in Atkore in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $9,585,000. Mather Group LLC. raised its stake in Atkore by 895.7% during the 2nd quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 468 shares of the company’s stock valued at $63,000 after acquiring an additional 421 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Park Avenue Securities LLC boosted its position in Atkore by 9.3% during the 2nd quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 7,207 shares of the company’s stock worth $972,000 after acquiring an additional 614 shares during the period.

Atkore Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ATKR traded down $0.30 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $93.88. The stock had a trading volume of 339,516 shares, compared to its average volume of 911,186. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $88.84 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $109.68. Atkore has a one year low of $76.01 and a one year high of $194.98. The stock has a market cap of $3.28 billion, a PE ratio of 7.43 and a beta of 2.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 1.96 and a current ratio of 2.98.

Atkore (NYSE:ATKR) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The company reported $2.02 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.08 by ($0.06). Atkore had a return on equity of 32.14% and a net margin of 14.77%. The business had revenue of $788.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $749.49 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.63 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Atkore will post 6.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Atkore Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. Atkore’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.13%.

About Atkore

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.