Wall Street Zen Downgrades Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) to Sell

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

A number of other equities research analysts have also weighed in on the stock. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Atmos Energy from $193.00 to $196.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 15th. Mizuho lowered their price target on Atmos Energy from $192.00 to $184.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Atmos Energy from $196.00 to $198.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Weiss Ratings lowered Atmos Energy from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price objective on Atmos Energy from $187.00 to $188.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $186.42.

Atmos Energy Stock Performance

Shares of Atmos Energy stock opened at $177.57 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $174.02 and a 200 day moving average price of $177.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.81, a PEG ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.60. 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 $154.23 and a 52 week high of $192.51.

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, topping 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 company had revenue of $1.96 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.94 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.03 EPS. Atmos Energy has set its FY 2026 guidance at 8.400-8.500 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Atmos Energy will post 8.45 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Atmos Energy

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of ATO. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Atmos Energy by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,032,554 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,525,687,000 after purchasing an additional 276,485 shares during the period. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in shares of Atmos Energy by 8.5% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 11,893,826 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,993,968,000 after purchasing an additional 927,986 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Atmos Energy by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,786,358 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,808,117,000 after purchasing an additional 155,836 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Atmos Energy by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,214,985 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $703,824,000 after buying an additional 78,438 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE grew its position in Atmos Energy by 11.0% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 4,199,433 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $775,719,000 after buying an additional 416,933 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.17% of the company’s stock.

Atmos Energy Company 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.