Atmos Energy Co. (NYSE:ATO) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of Atmos Energy Co. (NYSE:ATO – Get Rating) have earned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the ten ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have issued a hold recommendation and four have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $122.88.

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Atmos Energy from $125.00 to $115.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 9th. Citigroup increased their target price on Atmos Energy from $107.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 14th. Mizuho increased their target price on Atmos Energy from $128.00 to $137.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 9th. Credit Suisse Group raised their price objective on Atmos Energy from $105.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 14th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Atmos Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 8th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Kim R. Cocklin sold 12,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $117.14, for a total transaction of $1,464,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 228,846 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,807,020.44. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Atmos Energy

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Atmos Energy by 2.4% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,030,858 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,836,444,000 after purchasing an additional 422,653 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its stake in Atmos Energy by 5.1% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,772,352 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,287,188,000 after acquiring an additional 527,261 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG grew its stake in Atmos Energy by 14.9% in the second quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 4,917,780 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $551,284,000 after acquiring an additional 636,809 shares during the period. GQG Partners LLC grew its stake in Atmos Energy by 2.4% in the second quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 4,415,431 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $495,219,000 after acquiring an additional 105,241 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Atmos Energy by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,989,444 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $334,454,000 after acquiring an additional 40,347 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.03% of the company’s stock.

Atmos Energy Price Performance

Shares of ATO stock opened at $112.73 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. Atmos Energy has a twelve month low of $97.71 and a twelve month high of $122.96. The company has a market cap of $16.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.74, a P/E/G ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.61. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $114.82 and a 200 day simple moving average of $112.64.

Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO – Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 8th. The utilities provider reported $1.91 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.93 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $1.48 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.14 billion. Atmos Energy had a net margin of 17.06% and a return on equity of 8.50%. Atmos Energy’s revenue for the quarter was up 46.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.86 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Atmos Energy will post 6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Atmos Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 10th will be given a dividend of $0.74 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 16th. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.63%. Atmos Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 51.84%.

Atmos Energy Company Profile

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Atmos Energy Corp. engages in the provision of natural gas services. It operates under the Distribution, and Pipeline and Storage business segments. The Distribution segment is involved in regulated natural gas distribution and related sales operations. The Pipeline and Storage segment includes pipeline and storage operations of Atmos Pipeline-Texas division and natural gas transmission operations.