National Pension Service Raises Stock Holdings in Atmos Energy Corporation $ATO

National Pension Service increased its stake in shares of Atmos Energy Corporation (NYSE:ATO) by 6.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 221,670 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,979 shares during the quarter. National Pension Service owned approximately 0.13% of Atmos Energy worth $37,159,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in ATO. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its stake in shares of Atmos Energy by 94.9% during the 2nd 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 during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its stake in shares of Atmos Energy by 26,269.9% during the 4th 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 during the last quarter. PFA Pension Forsikringsaktieselskab purchased a new stake in shares of Atmos Energy during the 4th quarter worth $107,729,000. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in shares of Atmos Energy by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 10,965,840 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,872,162,000 after purchasing an additional 359,780 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Atmos Energy by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,630,522 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,815,162,000 after purchasing an additional 356,942 shares during the last quarter. 90.17% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Atmos Energy Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of NYSE:ATO opened at $168.96 on Monday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $183.33 and its 200 day moving average is $177.17. Atmos Energy Corporation has a 1 year low of $149.98 and a 1 year high of $192.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $28.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.76, a P/E/G ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.89.

Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) last announced its earnings results 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. 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 period in the prior year, the company posted $3.03 EPS. Atmos Energy has set its FY 2026 guidance at 8.400-8.500 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Atmos Energy Corporation will post 8.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Atmos Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 26th. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. Atmos Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 49.14%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ATO has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Citigroup upped their price objective on Atmos Energy from $182.00 to $191.00 and gave the stock 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. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on Atmos Energy from $195.00 to $187.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Atmos Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Finally, TD Cowen upped their target price on Atmos Energy from $193.00 to $196.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $181.90.

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.