Arvest Bank Trust Division Sells 5,188 Shares of Atmos Energy Corporation $ATO

Arvest Bank Trust Division trimmed its stake in shares of Atmos Energy Corporation (NYSE:ATO) by 9.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 52,576 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 5,188 shares during the quarter. Arvest Bank Trust Division’s holdings in Atmos Energy were worth $8,813,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ATO. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd grew its stake in Atmos Energy by 133.1% during the third quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd now owns 39,904 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,814,000 after purchasing an additional 22,784 shares during the period. TABR Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Atmos Energy in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,096,000. Calton & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in Atmos Energy in the third quarter valued at approximately $901,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its stake in Atmos Energy by 12.6% in the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 182,173 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $30,853,000 after acquiring an additional 20,408 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in Atmos Energy by 1.4% in the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 899,374 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $153,568,000 after acquiring an additional 12,607 shares during the period. 90.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Atmos Energy Stock Up 0.1%

ATO stock opened at $177.98 on Wednesday. Atmos Energy Corporation has a twelve month low of $149.98 and a twelve month high of $192.51. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $184.16 and its 200-day moving average is $177.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.71 billion, a PE ratio of 21.86, a P/E/G ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.65.

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

Atmos Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 8th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 26th will be issued a $1.00 dividend. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 26th. Atmos Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 49.14%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ATO has been the subject of a number of research reports. TD Cowen raised their price objective on Atmos Energy from $193.00 to $196.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 15th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Atmos Energy from $182.00 to $191.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Morgan Stanley set a $183.00 price objective on Atmos Energy in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. Barclays raised their price objective on Atmos Energy from $167.00 to $184.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut Atmos Energy from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Atmos Energy currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $181.50.

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.