Short Interest in Atkore Inc. (NYSE:ATKR) Declines By 9.4%

Atkore Inc. (NYSE:ATKR) saw a large drop in short interest during the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 4,220,000 shares, a drop of 9.4% from the August 15th total of 4,660,000 shares. Currently, 11.9% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 829,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 5.1 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Mark F. Lamps sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.47, for a total value of $47,735.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 28,086 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,681,370.42. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 2.56% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Atkore

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Boston Partners grew its holdings in Atkore by 12.0% in the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,340,146 shares of the company’s stock valued at $254,733,000 after purchasing an additional 143,121 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its stake in Atkore by 28.7% in the 2nd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 973,116 shares of the company’s stock valued at $131,303,000 after acquiring an additional 216,997 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in Atkore by 22.9% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 773,697 shares of the company’s stock valued at $104,395,000 after acquiring an additional 144,283 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its position in Atkore by 48.4% during the first quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 514,908 shares of the company’s stock worth $98,018,000 after acquiring an additional 168,042 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of Atkore by 1.1% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 449,323 shares of the company’s stock valued at $85,535,000 after purchasing an additional 4,852 shares in the last quarter.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ATKR has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. KeyCorp decreased their price objective on Atkore from $125.00 to $105.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Royal Bank of Canada cut shares of Atkore from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $175.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, B. Riley cut their price objective on shares of Atkore from $183.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $132.00.

Atkore Stock Performance

Shares of ATKR stock traded down $0.76 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $86.66. 602,785 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 623,414. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 3.26 and a quick ratio of 2.03. The company’s 50 day moving average is $108.60 and its two-hundred day moving average is $142.41. The company has a market cap of $3.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.40 and a beta of 2.15. Atkore has a 1 year low of $80.11 and a 1 year high of $194.98.

Atkore (NYSE:ATKR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The company reported $3.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.52 by $0.28. Atkore had a return on equity of 36.96% and a net margin of 16.47%. The firm had revenue of $822.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $830.16 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $5.13 earnings per share. Atkore’s revenue was down 10.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Atkore will post 12.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Atkore Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 20th were paid a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 20th. Atkore’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 7.98%.

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.