5,425 Shares in Atmos Energy Corporation $ATO Bought by North Dakota State Investment Board

North Dakota State Investment Board acquired a new position in shares of Atmos Energy Corporation (NYSE:ATO) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 5,425 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $909,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Elyxium Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Atmos Energy during the fourth quarter worth $74,000. Accredited Investors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Atmos Energy during the 4th quarter worth approximately $727,000. Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan grew its stake in shares of Atmos Energy by 29.7% during the 4th quarter. Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan now owns 3,708 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $622,000 after acquiring an additional 850 shares in the last quarter. AlphaCore Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Atmos Energy during the 4th quarter worth approximately $208,000. Finally, DNB Asset Management AS grew its stake in shares of Atmos Energy by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 43,817 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $7,345,000 after acquiring an additional 2,208 shares in the last quarter. 90.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Atmos Energy Price Performance

NYSE:ATO opened at $176.25 on Thursday. Atmos Energy Corporation has a 1-year low of $149.98 and a 1-year high of $192.51. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $184.80 and a 200 day simple moving average of $177.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $29.42 billion, a PE ratio of 21.65, a P/E/G ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.65.

Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The utilities provider reported $3.47 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.37 by $0.10. Atmos Energy had a net margin of 27.58% and a return on equity of 9.59%. The business had revenue of $1.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.94 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.03 earnings per share. Atmos Energy has set its FY 2026 guidance at 8.400-8.500 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Atmos Energy Corporation will post 8.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Atmos Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 8th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 26th will be paid a $1.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 26th. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.3%. Atmos Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 49.14%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on ATO shares. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Atmos Energy from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Atmos Energy from $167.00 to $184.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Atmos Energy from $182.00 to $191.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Truist Financial decreased their price target on shares of Atmos Energy from $195.00 to $187.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Atmos Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Atmos Energy has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $182.70.

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.