Asset Management One Co. Ltd. Sells 11,121 Shares of Atmos Energy Corporation $ATO

Asset Management One Co. Ltd. decreased its position in Atmos Energy Corporation (NYSE:ATO) by 8.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 127,481 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 11,121 shares during the quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. owned approximately 0.08% of Atmos Energy worth $21,767,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Atmos Energy by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,073,886 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $625,180,000 after buying an additional 63,166 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in Atmos Energy by 94.9% during the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 3,652,267 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $562,851,000 after acquiring an additional 1,778,653 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in shares of Atmos Energy by 3.1% in the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,082,338 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $475,019,000 after purchasing an additional 91,254 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in shares of Atmos Energy by 23.6% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,899,283 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $292,699,000 after purchasing an additional 362,894 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Atmos Energy in the second quarter worth about $282,487,000. 90.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have issued reports on ATO shares. Argus set a $172.00 target price on Atmos Energy in a report on Thursday, September 18th. Wall Street Zen cut Atmos Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, December 27th. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Atmos Energy from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 2nd. Barclays set a $175.00 target price on shares of Atmos Energy in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Finally, Bank of America restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $185.00 price target (up from $182.00) on shares of Atmos Energy in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Atmos Energy has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $172.22.

Atmos Energy Price Performance

NYSE:ATO opened at $166.98 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.77. The company has a 50-day moving average of $171.71 and a 200-day moving average of $166.52. Atmos Energy Corporation has a 52 week low of $136.16 and a 52 week high of $180.65. The company has a market capitalization of $27.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.29, a PEG ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.77.

Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) last posted its earnings results on Friday, November 14th. The utilities provider reported $1.04 earnings per share for the quarter. The business had revenue of $737.48 million for the quarter. Atmos Energy had a net margin of 25.49% and a return on equity of 9.07%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Atmos Energy Corporation will post 7.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Atmos Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 24th were issued a $1.00 dividend. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 24th. This is a boost from Atmos Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.87. Atmos Energy’s payout ratio is currently 53.40%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Atmos Energy news, Director Sean Donohue sold 450 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.15, for a total transaction of $77,017.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 877 shares in the company, valued at $150,098.55. This represents a 33.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.43% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Atmos Energy Profile

Atmos Energy Corporation (NYSE: ATO) is a U.S.-based natural-gas utility that primarily focuses on the regulated distribution of natural gas. Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, the company operates through local distribution systems to deliver natural gas to residential, commercial, industrial and electric generation customers. Atmos’s core activities include pipeline operations, gas distribution, system maintenance and reliability programs designed to ensure safe and continuous service to its customers.

The company’s services encompass gas delivery, system integrity and maintenance, storage and transmission connections, and customer-facing programs such as billing, conservation initiatives and energy-efficiency offerings.