New Hampshire Trust Trims Stock Holdings in Atmos Energy Co. (NYSE:ATO)

New Hampshire Trust decreased its position in Atmos Energy Co. (NYSE:ATO) by 3.2% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,990 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 130 shares during the period. New Hampshire Trust’s holdings in Atmos Energy were worth $464,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. raised its stake in Atmos Energy by 11.8% in the 1st quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 28,137 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,161,000 after acquiring an additional 2,976 shares during the last quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. raised its stake in Atmos Energy by 4.6% in the 1st quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 28,488 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,201,000 after acquiring an additional 1,248 shares during the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its position in Atmos Energy by 177.9% during the 1st quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 7,675 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $863,000 after purchasing an additional 4,913 shares during the period. SouthState Corp grew its position in Atmos Energy by 7.5% during the 1st quarter. SouthState Corp now owns 1,483 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $167,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC grew its position in Atmos Energy by 4.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 10,002 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,124,000 after purchasing an additional 419 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.98% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Atmos Energy

In other news, Director Kim R. Cocklin sold 12,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $117.44, for a total transaction of $1,468,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 212,472 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,952,711.68. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on ATO. StockNews.com downgraded Atmos Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 30th. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded Atmos Energy from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $132.00 to $128.00 in a research report on Monday, August 28th. Bank of America cut their price target on Atmos Energy from $135.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 16th. Barclays started coverage on Atmos Energy in a research report on Wednesday, August 23rd. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $122.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Atmos Energy from $126.00 to $122.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $125.00.

Atmos Energy Price Performance

NYSE:ATO traded down $1.35 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $115.01. 2,483,402 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 827,919. Atmos Energy Co. has a 52-week low of $97.71 and a 52-week high of $125.28. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $117.89 and its 200 day moving average price is $115.84. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. The company has a market cap of $17.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.69, a P/E/G ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.62.

Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 3rd. The utilities provider reported $0.94 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.97 by ($0.03). Atmos Energy had a return on equity of 8.38% and a net margin of 19.02%. The firm had revenue of $662.73 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $959.54 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.92 earnings per share. Atmos Energy’s quarterly revenue was down 18.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Atmos Energy Co. will post 6.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Atmos Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 5th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 21st were issued a dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 18th. Atmos Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 50.68%.

Atmos Energy Company Profile

Atmos Energy Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the regulated natural gas distribution, and pipeline and storage businesses in the United States. It operates through two segments, Distribution, and Pipeline and Storage. The Distribution segment is involved in the regulated natural gas distribution and related sales operations in eight states.