Toroso Investments LLC Sells 356 Shares of Atmos Energy Co. (NYSE:ATO)

Toroso Investments LLC cut its stake in Atmos Energy Co. (NYSE:ATO – Get Rating) by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 9,769 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 356 shares during the quarter. Toroso Investments LLC’s holdings in Atmos Energy were worth $995,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of ATO. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Atmos Energy by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,030,858 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,836,444,000 after buying an additional 422,653 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Atmos Energy by 5.1% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,772,352 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,287,188,000 after purchasing an additional 527,261 shares during the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Atmos Energy by 2.4% during the second quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 4,415,431 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $495,219,000 after purchasing an additional 105,241 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in Atmos Energy by 24.0% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,756,708 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $329,399,000 after buying an additional 533,372 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake in Atmos Energy by 4.3% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,965,724 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $220,359,000 after buying an additional 81,832 shares during the last quarter. 91.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Atmos Energy news, Director Kim R. Cocklin sold 12,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.14, for a total value of $1,464,250.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 228,846 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,807,020.44. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on ATO shares. StockNews.com began coverage on Atmos Energy in a report on Thursday. They set a “sell” rating on the stock. Mizuho boosted their price target on shares of Atmos Energy from $128.00 to $137.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 9th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Atmos Energy from $123.00 to $132.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Atmos Energy from $125.00 to $115.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Atmos Energy from $130.00 to $125.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Atmos Energy has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $122.88.

Atmos Energy Stock Up 0.3 %

ATO opened at $114.69 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $114.69 and a 200 day moving average of $112.29. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. Atmos Energy Co. has a 12 month low of $97.71 and a 12 month high of $122.96. The company has a market cap of $16.42 billion, a PE ratio of 20.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.61.

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

Atmos Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 10th were issued a $0.74 dividend. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 16th. Atmos Energy’s payout ratio 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.