Calton & Associates Inc. Makes New $901,000 Investment in Atmos Energy Corporation $ATO

Calton & Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Atmos Energy Corporation (NYSE:ATO) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 5,275 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $901,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of ATO. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Atmos Energy during the second quarter valued at approximately $282,487,000. Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in shares of 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 worth $562,851,000 after purchasing an additional 1,778,653 shares in the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Atmos Energy by 220.1% during the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 720,956 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $111,107,000 after purchasing an additional 495,712 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in shares of Atmos Energy by 23.6% in the 2nd 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Mizuho Markets Americas LLC purchased a new position in Atmos Energy during the 3rd quarter worth $48,798,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.17% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ATO has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Barclays raised their price target on Atmos Energy from $165.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Atmos Energy to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 18th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Atmos Energy from $159.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Atmos Energy in a report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Atmos Energy from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Atmos Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $174.33.

Atmos Energy Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ATO opened at $179.16 on Monday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $168.89 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $169.53. The stock has a market cap of $29.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.27, a PEG ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a current ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. Atmos Energy Corporation has a 12 month low of $141.59 and a 12 month high of $180.65.

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

Atmos Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 9th. Investors of record on Monday, February 23rd will be issued a dividend of $1.00 per share. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 23rd. Atmos Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 51.95%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Sean Donohue sold 450 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.15, for a total transaction of $77,017.50. Following the sale, the director owned 877 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $150,098.55. This trade represents a 33.91% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.43% 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.