RWA Wealth Partners LLC Buys New Position in Atmos Energy Co. (NYSE:ATO)

RWA Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Atmos Energy Co. (NYSE:ATO) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 4,429 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $513,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP increased its stake in shares of Atmos Energy by 984.6% during the third quarter. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP now owns 282 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 256 shares during the period. Global Retirement Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Atmos Energy by 57.5% in the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 293 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 107 shares during the period. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Atmos Energy by 107.0% in the third quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 294 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 152 shares during the period. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Atmos Energy during the fourth quarter valued at about $47,000. Finally, Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC acquired a new position in Atmos Energy during the fourth quarter worth about $48,000. 90.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Atmos Energy

In other Atmos Energy news, Director Kim R. Cocklin sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.46, for a total transaction of $1,746,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 186,339 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,701,039.94. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Atmos Energy Stock Performance

Shares of ATO opened at $118.17 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $115.49 and a two-hundred day moving average of $113.93. The stock has a market cap of $17.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.76, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.66. 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 one year low of $101.00 and a one year high of $125.28.

Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 7th. The utilities provider reported $2.08 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.09 by ($0.01). Atmos Energy had a return on equity of 8.62% and a net margin of 23.43%. The firm had revenue of $1.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.91 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect 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. Investors of record on Monday, February 26th were given a dividend of $0.805 per share. This represents a $3.22 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 23rd. Atmos Energy’s payout ratio is 51.11%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on ATO. UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of Atmos Energy in a report on Friday, April 12th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $124.00 price target for the company. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Atmos Energy from $115.00 to $121.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Atmos Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $124.33.

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.