Empirical Finance LLC Decreases Stake in Atkore Inc. (NYSE:ATKR)

Empirical Finance LLC lessened its stake in shares of Atkore Inc. (NYSE:ATKR) by 47.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,382 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,094 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Atkore were worth $282,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC increased its holdings in shares of Atkore by 53.6% in the third quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 160,117 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,568,000 after purchasing an additional 55,841 shares during the period. Creative Planning increased its holdings in Atkore by 37.1% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 7,658 shares of the company’s stock worth $649,000 after buying an additional 2,073 shares during the period. Twelve Points Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Atkore by 20.4% in the 3rd quarter. Twelve Points Wealth Management LLC now owns 17,050 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,445,000 after buying an additional 2,884 shares during the period. nVerses Capital LLC raised its position in Atkore by 24.0% during the 3rd quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 3,100 shares of the company’s stock worth $263,000 after buying an additional 600 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AlphaMark Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Atkore by 91.8% during the 3rd quarter. AlphaMark Advisors LLC now owns 3,364 shares of the company’s stock valued at $285,000 after acquiring an additional 1,610 shares during the period.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on ATKR shares. Loop Capital lowered shares of Atkore from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $115.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Monday. B. Riley downgraded Atkore from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $135.00 to $84.00 in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Roth Mkm started coverage on Atkore in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $100.00 price objective for the company. KeyCorp dropped their target price on Atkore from $105.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Roth Capital raised Atkore to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $103.17.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Daniel S. Kelly sold 13,071 shares of Atkore stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.74, for a total value of $1,251,417.54. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 27,528 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,635,530.72. The trade was a 32.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Jeri L. Isbell sold 3,353 shares of the business’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 sale, the director now owns 25,585 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,405,757.55. The trade was a 11.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 16,924 shares of company stock worth $1,599,200 over the last 90 days. 1.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Atkore Price Performance

Shares of Atkore stock opened at $70.98 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $2.46 billion, a PE ratio of 6.87 and a beta of 2.12. Atkore Inc. has a twelve month low of $62.62 and a twelve month high of $194.98. The company has a quick ratio of 1.96, a current ratio of 3.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $82.97 and a 200 day moving average price of $89.45.

Atkore (NYSE:ATKR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.05 by $0.45. Atkore had a return on equity of 25.69% and a net margin of 12.42%. The business had revenue of $661.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $680.77 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $4.12 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 17.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Atkore Inc. will post 6.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Atkore Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. Atkore’s payout ratio is 12.39%.

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.