Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) Rating Increased to Hold at 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 Tuesday.

Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Atmos Energy from $193.00 to $196.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 15th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Atmos Energy from $167.00 to $184.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Atmos Energy from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Truist Financial lowered their target price 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, May 18th. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Atmos Energy from $182.00 to $191.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Atmos Energy presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $181.50.

Atmos Energy Stock Performance

Shares of ATO stock opened at $177.79 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $29.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.84, a PEG ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.65. The company’s 50 day moving average is $184.37 and its 200 day moving average is $177.22. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. Atmos Energy has a 52-week low of $149.98 and a 52-week high of $192.51.

Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The utilities provider reported $3.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.37 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $1.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.94 billion. Atmos Energy had a net margin of 27.58% and a return on equity of 9.59%. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.03 earnings per share. Atmos Energy has set its FY 2026 guidance at 8.400-8.500 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Atmos Energy will post 8.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Atmos Energy in the fourth quarter valued at $331,426,000. Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in shares of Atmos Energy by 94.9% during the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 3,652,267 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $562,851,000 after purchasing an additional 1,778,653 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its stake in shares of Atmos Energy by 26,269.9% during the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,033,701 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $173,279,000 after purchasing an additional 1,029,781 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its stake in shares of Atmos Energy by 8.5% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 11,893,826 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,993,968,000 after purchasing an additional 927,986 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PFA Pension Forsikringsaktieselskab purchased a new stake in shares of Atmos Energy during the fourth quarter worth about $107,729,000. 90.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.