Danske Bank A S Purchases New Holdings in Atmos Energy Corporation $ATO

Danske Bank A S purchased a new position in shares of Atmos Energy Corporation (NYSE:ATO) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 338,292 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $57,763,000. Danske Bank A S owned approximately 0.21% of Atmos Energy at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its stake in Atmos Energy by 206.8% during the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 26,925 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,597,000 after buying an additional 18,148 shares in the last quarter. Allstate Corp acquired a new position in shares of Atmos Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $961,000. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund raised its position in shares of Atmos Energy by 33.8% in the 3rd quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 18,332 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,130,000 after buying an additional 4,636 shares in the last quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich lifted its holdings in shares of Atmos Energy by 267.0% during the 2nd quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 2,822 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $435,000 after acquiring an additional 2,053 shares during the period. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Atmos Energy by 32.2% during the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 552,595 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $85,097,000 after acquiring an additional 134,748 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 90.17% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ATO has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Atmos Energy from $163.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Atmos Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 7th. UBS Group raised their target price on Atmos Energy from $159.00 to $174.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Morgan Stanley set a $192.00 price target on Atmos Energy in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Finally, Barclays boosted 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Atmos Energy has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $175.67.

Atmos Energy Stock Down 0.9%

Shares of ATO opened at $185.32 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.13. Atmos Energy Corporation has a 52 week low of $141.59 and a 52 week high of $190.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $30.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.07, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 0.74. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $176.28 and a 200-day moving average of $172.76.

Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) last issued 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 business had revenue of $1.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.21 billion. Atmos Energy had a return on equity of 9.20% and a net margin of 25.67%.During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.23 EPS. Atmos Energy has set its FY 2026 guidance at 8.150-8.350 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Atmos Energy Corporation will post 7.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Atmos Energy Announces Dividend

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

About Atmos Energy

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.