Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) Stock Rating Upgraded by Wall Street Zen

Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) was upgraded by Wall Street Zen from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday.

Several other brokerages have also recently weighed in on ATO. Citigroup raised their target price on Atmos Energy from $163.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Atmos Energy in a report on Monday, December 29th. Barclays raised their price objective 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, January 27th. Zacks Research raised shares of Atmos Energy to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 18th. Finally, UBS Group boosted 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $175.67.

Atmos Energy Stock Performance

ATO stock opened at $185.34 on Friday. Atmos Energy has a 1 year low of $141.59 and a 1 year high of $187.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $30.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.07, a PEG ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.13. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $173.37 and its two-hundred day moving average is $171.61.

Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 3rd. The utilities provider reported $2.44 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.41 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $1.34 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.21 billion. Atmos Energy had a return on equity of 9.20% and a net margin of 25.67%.During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.23 EPS. Atmos Energy has set its FY 2026 guidance at 8.150-8.350 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Atmos Energy will post 7.18 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Atmos Energy

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ATO. Compound Planning Inc. lifted its holdings in Atmos Energy by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Compound Planning Inc. now owns 1,654 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $277,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC grew its holdings in Atmos Energy by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 1,579 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $265,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. MGO One Seven LLC grew its holdings in Atmos Energy by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. MGO One Seven LLC now owns 1,514 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $254,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB raised its position in shares of Atmos Energy by 30.4% in the third quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 279 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the period. Finally, Little House Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Atmos Energy by 0.6% in the third quarter. Little House Capital LLC now owns 10,733 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,833,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.17% of the company’s stock.

About Atmos Energy

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.