Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. Decreases Stake in Atmos Energy Co. (NYSE:ATO)

Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. lowered its position in shares of Atmos Energy Co. (NYSE:ATO) by 10.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,076 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 250 shares during the quarter. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC.’s holdings in Atmos Energy were worth $241,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. abrdn plc lifted its position in Atmos Energy by 94.6% during the 4th quarter. abrdn plc now owns 80,845 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $9,370,000 after acquiring an additional 39,303 shares in the last quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP lifted its position in Atmos Energy by 5.9% during the 4th quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 1,347,311 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $156,153,000 after acquiring an additional 74,654 shares in the last quarter. Delta Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in Atmos Energy by 8.5% during the 4th quarter. Delta Financial Advisors LLC now owns 8,850 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,026,000 after acquiring an additional 690 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its position in Atmos Energy by 8.9% during the 4th quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 5,487 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $636,000 after acquiring an additional 450 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its position in Atmos Energy by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 20,183 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,339,000 after acquiring an additional 220 shares in the last quarter. 90.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Atmos Energy Price Performance

Shares of ATO opened at $117.20 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $17.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.60, a PEG ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.66. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $115.10 and a 200 day moving average price of $113.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 1.25. Atmos Energy Co. has a 12 month low of $101.00 and a 12 month high of $125.28.

Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The utilities provider reported $2.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.09 by ($0.01). Atmos Energy had a return on equity of 8.62% and a net margin of 23.43%. The business had revenue of $1.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.71 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.91 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Atmos Energy Co. will post 6.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Atmos Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 26th were paid a $0.805 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 23rd. This represents a $3.22 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.75%. Atmos Energy’s payout ratio is 51.11%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on ATO. StockNews.com raised Atmos Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. UBS Group started coverage on Atmos Energy in a research report on Friday, April 12th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $124.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on Atmos Energy from $115.00 to $121.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Atmos Energy has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $124.33.

Insider Transactions at Atmos Energy

In other news, Director Kim R. Cocklin sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.46, for a total value of $1,746,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 186,339 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,701,039.94. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

Atmos Energy 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.