Bahl & Gaynor Inc. Acquires 4,786 Shares of Atmos Energy Corporation $ATO

Bahl & Gaynor Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Atmos Energy Corporation (NYSE:ATO) by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 328,043 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 4,786 shares during the period. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. owned approximately 0.20% of Atmos Energy worth $56,013,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position 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 acquiring an additional 63,166 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE raised its stake in shares of 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 worth $562,851,000 after purchasing an additional 1,778,653 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Atmos Energy by 3.1% in the second 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 in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in 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 purchased a new stake in Atmos Energy in the 2nd quarter valued at $282,487,000. 90.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Atmos Energy Stock Up 1.7%

Shares of NYSE ATO opened at $186.79 on Monday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $30.90 billion, a PE ratio of 24.26, a P/E/G ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.74. Atmos Energy Corporation has a one year low of $141.59 and a one year high of $187.82. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $171.56 and its 200-day moving average price is $170.97.

Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 3rd. The utilities provider reported $2.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.41 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $1.34 billion for 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 previous year, the business posted $2.23 EPS. Atmos Energy has set its FY 2026 guidance at 8.150-8.350 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Atmos Energy Corporation will post 7.18 EPS for the current year.

Atmos Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 9th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 23rd will be issued a dividend of $1.00 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 23rd. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.1%. Atmos Energy’s payout ratio is presently 51.95%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Atmos Energy from $165.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. Citigroup boosted their target price on Atmos Energy from $163.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Atmos Energy in a report on Monday, December 29th. Mizuho upped their price objective on Atmos Energy from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $192.00 target price on Atmos Energy in a research note on Friday, February 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $175.67.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Sean Donohue sold 450 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.43% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.