Bank of New York Mellon Corp Grows Holdings in Atmos Energy Corporation $ATO

Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in Atmos Energy Corporation (NYSE:ATO) by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 899,374 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 12,607 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned 0.56% of Atmos Energy worth $153,568,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Atmos Energy by 1.6% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,073,886 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $625,180,000 after acquiring an additional 63,166 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE grew its stake in Atmos Energy by 94.9% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 3,652,267 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $562,851,000 after purchasing an additional 1,778,653 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in Atmos Energy by 3.1% in the 2nd 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 period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in shares of Atmos Energy by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,949,497 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $332,877,000 after purchasing an additional 50,214 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Atmos Energy in the 2nd quarter worth about $282,487,000. Institutional investors own 90.17% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Atmos Energy to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 18th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Atmos Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Atmos Energy from $163.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Bank of America reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $185.00 price objective (up previously from $182.00) on shares of Atmos Energy in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Atmos Energy in a research report on Monday, December 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $174.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Atmos Energy news, Director Sean Donohue sold 450 shares of Atmos Energy stock in a transaction dated 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 owned 877 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $150,098.55. The trade was a 33.91% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.43% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Atmos Energy Stock Up 0.2%

ATO opened at $166.40 on Friday. Atmos Energy Corporation has a 12 month low of $140.69 and a 12 month high of $180.65. The company has a market cap of $26.91 billion, a PE ratio of 22.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The company has a 50 day moving average of $168.95 and a 200 day moving average of $168.31.

Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) last issued its earnings results on Friday, November 14th. The utilities provider reported $1.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Atmos Energy had a net margin of 25.49% and a return on equity of 9.07%. The business had revenue of $737.48 million for the quarter. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Atmos Energy Corporation will post 7.18 EPS for the current year.

Atmos Energy Increases Dividend

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

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.