Insider Selling: Atmos Energy Co. (NYSE:ATO) VP Sells $199,850.00 in Stock

Atmos Energy Co. (NYSE:ATO) VP Richard M. Thomas sold 1,750 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $114.20, for a total value of $199,850.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 2,650 shares in the company, valued at approximately $302,630. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Atmos Energy Stock Down 0.1 %

ATO stock opened at $113.90 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. Atmos Energy Co. has a 1 year low of $101.00 and a 1 year high of $125.28. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $110.42 and a 200 day simple moving average of $114.90. The firm has a market cap of $16.91 billion, a PE ratio of 18.58, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 0.65.

Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 9th. The utilities provider reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.06. Atmos Energy had a net margin of 20.72% and a return on equity of 8.54%. The company had revenue of $587.64 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $959.12 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.51 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 18.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Atmos Energy Co. will post 6.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Atmos Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 27th will be issued a dividend of $0.805 per share. This is an increase from Atmos Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 24th. This represents a $3.22 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.83%. Atmos Energy’s payout ratio is presently 48.29%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on ATO. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Atmos Energy from $124.00 to $115.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 25th. Bank of America cut their target price on shares of Atmos Energy from $135.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 16th. Wells Fargo & Company cut Atmos Energy from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price target for the company from $132.00 to $128.00 in a report on Monday, August 28th. Barclays dropped their target price on Atmos Energy from $122.00 to $116.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 24th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Atmos Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Atmos Energy has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $122.86.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BlackRock Inc. increased its stake in Atmos Energy by 31.8% in the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 17,992,930 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,093,298,000 after acquiring an additional 4,343,701 shares during the period. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich grew its stake in Atmos Energy by 98,059.5% during the second quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 1,554,847 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $180,891,000 after buying an additional 1,553,263 shares during the last quarter. Perpetual Ltd bought a new stake in Atmos Energy during the first quarter worth about $127,941,000. Zimmer Partners LP bought a new stake in Atmos Energy during the first quarter worth about $104,567,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Atmos Energy by 3.3% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,962,224 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,026,815,000 after buying an additional 547,260 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.98% of the company’s stock.

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.