California State Teachers Retirement System Buys 3,185 Shares of Atmos Energy Co. (NYSE:ATO)

California State Teachers Retirement System grew its holdings in Atmos Energy Co. (NYSE:ATO – Get Rating) by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 251,627 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,185 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System owned approximately 0.18% of Atmos Energy worth $25,628,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Delta Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Atmos Energy by 1.2% in the third quarter. Delta Financial Advisors LLC now owns 7,923 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $807,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares during the period. Lumature Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Atmos Energy by 3.8% in the third quarter. Lumature Wealth Partners LLC now owns 2,639 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $269,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares during the period. Personal CFO Solutions LLC raised its position in shares of Atmos Energy by 5.2% in the third quarter. Personal CFO Solutions LLC now owns 1,990 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $203,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares during the period. Securian Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Atmos Energy by 0.9% in the third quarter. Securian Asset Management Inc. now owns 11,306 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,152,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Finally, Utah Retirement Systems raised its position in shares of Atmos Energy by 0.4% in the third quarter. Utah Retirement Systems now owns 24,706 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,517,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 91.03% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on ATO. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Atmos Energy from $125.00 to $115.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 9th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Atmos Energy from $123.00 to $132.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 14th. Mizuho upped their target price 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. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Atmos Energy from $107.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 14th. Finally, StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Atmos Energy in a report on Thursday. They set a “sell” rating on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Atmos Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $122.88.

Atmos Energy Price Performance

Shares of Atmos Energy stock opened at $114.69 on Friday. Atmos Energy Co. has a 52-week low of $97.71 and a 52-week high of $122.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a fifty day moving average of $114.69 and a 200-day moving average of $112.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 1.03.

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

Atmos Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 10th were paid a $0.74 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 16th. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.58%. Atmos Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 51.84%.

Insider Activity

In other Atmos Energy news, Director Kim R. Cocklin sold 12,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 6th. The shares were 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 approximately $26,807,020.44. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Atmos Energy

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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.