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

Toroso Investments LLC decreased its stake in Atmos Energy Co. (NYSE:ATO – Get Rating) by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 9,769 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 356 shares during the period. Toroso Investments LLC’s holdings in Atmos Energy were worth $995,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Zimmer Partners LP bought a new position in shares of Atmos Energy in the 2nd quarter valued at $71,150,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Atmos Energy by 3.3% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,962,224 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,026,815,000 after purchasing an additional 547,260 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in Atmos Energy by 24.0% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,756,708 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $329,399,000 after purchasing an additional 533,372 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Atmos Energy by 5.1% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,772,352 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,287,188,000 after purchasing an additional 527,261 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Atmos Energy during the second quarter worth about $43,584,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on ATO. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Atmos Energy from $130.00 to $125.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 22nd. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Atmos Energy from $107.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 14th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Atmos Energy from $123.00 to $132.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 14th. Mizuho upped their price target on Atmos Energy from $128.00 to $137.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Atmos Energy from $125.00 to $115.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 9th. One investment 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Atmos Energy currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $122.88.

Atmos Energy Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of Atmos Energy stock opened at $114.69 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $114.69 and its 200 day moving average is $112.29. Atmos Energy Co. has a one year low of $97.71 and a one year high of $122.96. The firm has a market cap of $16.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.09, a PEG ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 0.94.

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

Atmos Energy Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Atmos Energy

In other news, Director Kim R. Cocklin sold 12,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director now owns 228,846 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,807,020.44. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

Atmos Energy 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.