Atmos Energy Corporation (NYSE:ATO) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Atmos Energy Corporation (NYSE:ATO) has received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the twelve analysts that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eight have assigned a hold recommendation, two have assigned a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $175.6667.

ATO has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Atmos Energy from $163.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Atmos Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 7th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Atmos Energy from $165.00 to $167.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Atmos Energy from $159.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $192.00 price objective on shares of Atmos Energy in a research note on Friday, February 20th.

Institutional Trading of Atmos Energy

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Atmos Energy in the fourth quarter worth about $331,426,000. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its position in Atmos Energy by 94.9% in 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 buying an additional 1,778,653 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its holdings in Atmos Energy by 26,269.9% in the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,033,701 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $173,279,000 after buying an additional 1,029,781 shares during the period. Capital International Investors increased its holdings in Atmos Energy by 8.5% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 11,893,826 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,993,968,000 after buying an additional 927,986 shares during the period. Finally, PFA Pension Forsikringsaktieselskab purchased a new position in Atmos Energy during the 4th quarter worth approximately $107,729,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.17% of the company’s stock.

Atmos Energy Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of ATO stock opened at $185.61 on Thursday. Atmos Energy has a 1-year low of $141.59 and a 1-year high of $190.13. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $179.17 and its 200 day moving average price is $174.00. 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 company has a market cap of $30.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.69.

Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 3rd. The utilities provider reported $2.44 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 last year, the business posted $2.23 earnings per share. Atmos Energy has set its FY 2026 guidance at 8.150-8.350 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Atmos Energy will post 7.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Atmos Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 9th. Investors of record on Monday, February 23rd were paid a $1.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 23rd. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. Atmos Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 51.95%.

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.