Fisher Asset Management LLC Acquires New Stake in Atmos Energy Corporation $ATO

Fisher Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Atmos Energy Corporation (NYSE:ATO) in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 6,753 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,153,000.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Atmos Energy by 1.6% in 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 purchasing an additional 63,166 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE boosted 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 buying an additional 1,778,653 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Atmos Energy by 3.1% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,082,338 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $475,019,000 after buying an additional 91,254 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in shares of Atmos Energy by 2.6% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,949,497 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $332,877,000 after buying an additional 50,214 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Atmos Energy in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $282,487,000. Institutional investors own 90.17% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on ATO. Wall Street Zen upgraded Atmos Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday. 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. Zacks Research raised shares of Atmos Energy to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 18th. Morgan Stanley set a $192.00 target price on shares of Atmos Energy in a report on Friday, February 20th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed 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 issued a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $175.67.

Atmos Energy Stock Performance

ATO opened at $185.34 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 1.13 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $173.37 and a 200 day simple moving average of $171.61. Atmos Energy Corporation has a 1 year low of $141.59 and a 1 year high of $187.98. The company has a market capitalization of $30.66 billion, a PE ratio of 24.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 0.74.

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. Atmos Energy had a return on equity of 9.20% and a net margin of 25.67%.The firm had revenue of $1.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.21 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.23 EPS. Atmos Energy has set its FY 2026 guidance at 8.150-8.350 EPS. Research analysts expect that Atmos Energy Corporation will post 7.18 EPS for the current year.

Atmos Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 9th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 23rd will be paid a $1.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 23rd. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.2%. Atmos Energy’s payout ratio is 51.95%.

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.