Atmos Energy Corporation (NYSE:ATO) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of Atmos Energy Corporation (NYSE:ATO) have been assigned an average rating of “Hold” from the fourteen ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, two have assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $172.2222.

Several brokerages recently weighed in on ATO. Argus set a $172.00 target price on Atmos Energy in a research note on Thursday, September 18th. Bank of America reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $185.00 price target (up from $182.00) on shares of Atmos Energy in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $172.00 price objective (down previously from $182.00) on shares of Atmos Energy in a research note on Tuesday, December 16th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Atmos Energy to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 18th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Atmos Energy from $159.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 17th.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Sean Donohue sold 450 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.15, for a total transaction of $77,017.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 877 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $150,098.55. This represents a 33.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.48% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Atmos Energy

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. W.H. Cornerstone Investments Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Atmos Energy by 16.7% during the second quarter. W.H. Cornerstone Investments Inc. now owns 7,625 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,175,000 after purchasing an additional 1,093 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp lifted its stake in Atmos Energy by 2.9% in the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 34,705 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,348,000 after buying an additional 981 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL grew its position in shares of Atmos Energy by 8.4% during the 2nd quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 1,970 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $304,000 after buying an additional 152 shares during the period. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich increased its stake in shares of Atmos Energy by 267.0% in the 2nd quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 2,822 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $435,000 after acquiring an additional 2,053 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its stake in Atmos Energy by 32.2% during the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 552,595 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $85,097,000 after acquiring an additional 134,748 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.17% of the company’s stock.

Atmos Energy Trading Up 0.3%

Atmos Energy stock opened at $167.21 on Tuesday. Atmos Energy has a 12-month low of $136.16 and a 12-month high of $180.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $27.04 billion, a PE ratio of 22.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.75. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $173.47 and a 200-day simple moving average of $165.42.

Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) last released its earnings results on Friday, November 14th. The utilities provider reported $1.04 earnings per share for the quarter. Atmos Energy had a return on equity of 9.07% and a net margin of 25.49%.The firm had revenue of $737.48 million during the quarter. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Atmos Energy will post 7.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Atmos Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 8th. Investors of record on Monday, November 24th were issued a $1.00 dividend. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 24th. This is a positive change from Atmos Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.87. Atmos Energy’s payout ratio is presently 53.40%.

Atmos Energy Company Profile

Atmos Energy Corporation (NYSE: ATO) is a U.S.-based natural-gas utility that primarily focuses on the regulated distribution of natural gas. Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, the company operates through local distribution systems to deliver natural gas to residential, commercial, industrial and electric generation customers. Atmos’s core activities include pipeline operations, gas distribution, system maintenance and reliability programs designed to ensure safe and continuous service to its customers.

The company’s services encompass gas delivery, system integrity and maintenance, storage and transmission connections, and customer-facing programs such as billing, conservation initiatives and energy-efficiency offerings.