Bank of New York Mellon Corp Purchases 12,607 Shares of Atmos Energy Corporation $ATO

Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in Atmos Energy Corporation (NYSE:ATO) by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 899,374 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 12,607 shares during the quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp’s holdings in Atmos Energy were worth $153,568,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. W.H. Cornerstone Investments Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Atmos Energy by 16.7% in the 2nd quarter. W.H. Cornerstone Investments Inc. now owns 7,625 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,175,000 after purchasing an additional 1,093 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its stake in Atmos Energy by 206.8% in the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 26,925 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,597,000 after purchasing an additional 18,148 shares during the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp boosted its position in Atmos Energy by 2.9% during 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. Allstate Corp bought a new position in shares of Atmos Energy during the third quarter valued at about $961,000. Finally, Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund increased its holdings in shares of Atmos Energy by 33.8% in the third quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 18,332 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,130,000 after buying an additional 4,636 shares during the period. 90.17% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Sean Donohue sold 450 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.15, for a total value of $77,017.50. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.43% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ATO has been the subject of several analyst reports. Mizuho increased their target price on Atmos Energy from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 2nd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Atmos Energy in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Atmos Energy from $163.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Zacks Research raised shares of Atmos Energy to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 18th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on shares of Atmos Energy from $165.00 to $167.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Atmos Energy has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $174.33.

Atmos Energy Price Performance

ATO opened at $166.40 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.91 billion, a PE ratio of 22.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.77. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $168.95 and its 200-day moving average price is $168.31. Atmos Energy Corporation has a 52-week low of $140.69 and a 52-week high of $180.65.

Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 14th. The utilities provider reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter. The company had revenue of $737.48 million during the quarter. Atmos Energy had a return on equity of 9.07% and a net margin of 25.49%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Atmos Energy Corporation will post 7.18 EPS for the current year.

Atmos Energy Increases Dividend

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

Atmos Energy 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.