Wall Street Zen Downgrades Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) to Sell

Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) was downgraded by stock analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a note issued to investors on Saturday.

A number of other analysts also recently issued reports on ATO. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Atmos Energy from $159.00 to $174.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Atmos Energy from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 2nd. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Atmos Energy from $165.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Bank of America reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $185.00 target price (up previously from $182.00) on shares of Atmos Energy in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. Finally, TD Cowen started coverage on Atmos Energy in a research report on Wednesday, October 15th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $174.33.

Atmos Energy Price Performance

ATO stock opened at $171.44 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $168.42 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $168.70. Atmos Energy has a 1 year low of $140.85 and a 1 year high of $180.65. The stock has a market cap of $28.36 billion, a PE ratio of 22.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a current ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67.

Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 3rd. The utilities provider reported $2.44 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.41 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $1.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.21 billion. Atmos Energy had a return on equity of 9.20% and a net margin of 25.67%.During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.23 earnings per share. Atmos Energy has set its FY 2026 guidance at 8.150-8.350 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Atmos Energy will post 7.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Atmos Energy

In other news, Director Sean Donohue sold 450 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.15, for a total value of $77,017.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 877 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $150,098.55. This trade represents a 33.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.43% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Atmos Energy

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ATO. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Atmos Energy by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,032,554 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,525,687,000 after purchasing an additional 276,485 shares during the period. Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Atmos Energy by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 10,965,840 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,872,162,000 after buying an additional 359,780 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Atmos Energy by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,630,522 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,815,162,000 after buying an additional 356,942 shares during the period. 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. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in Atmos Energy by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 3,737,053 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $638,102,000 after acquiring an additional 84,786 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 90.17% of the company’s stock.

Atmos Energy Company 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.