Atmos Energy Co. (NYSE:ATO) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Atmos Energy Co. (NYSE:ATO) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the five ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $124.40.

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on ATO. Mizuho boosted their price objective on Atmos Energy from $131.00 to $133.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 14th. StockNews.com cut Atmos Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on Atmos Energy from $115.00 to $121.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 14th.

Insider Activity at Atmos Energy

In related news, Director Kim R. Cocklin sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.46, for a total value of $1,746,900.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 186,339 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,701,039.94. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Atmos Energy

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ATO. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Atmos Energy by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 19,347,371 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,049,467,000 after purchasing an additional 538,578 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Atmos Energy by 7.2% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 13,649,229 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,533,627,000 after buying an additional 912,138 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Atmos Energy by 5.1% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,772,352 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,287,188,000 after acquiring an additional 527,261 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of Atmos Energy by 11.6% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,032,032 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,162,713,000 after acquiring an additional 1,041,608 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Atmos Energy by 3.4% during the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,090,125 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $346,460,000 after purchasing an additional 100,681 shares during the period. 90.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Atmos Energy Price Performance

ATO opened at $116.23 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a current ratio of 1.44. The firm has a market cap of $17.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.45, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.66. Atmos Energy has a fifty-two week low of $101.00 and a fifty-two week high of $125.28. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $114.81 and a 200 day moving average of $113.19.

Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The utilities provider reported $2.08 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.09 by ($0.01). Atmos Energy had a net margin of 23.43% and a return on equity of 8.62%. The company had revenue of $1.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.71 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.91 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Atmos Energy will post 6.59 EPS for the current year.

Atmos Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 11th. Investors of record on Monday, February 26th were paid a $0.805 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 23rd. This represents a $3.22 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.77%. Atmos Energy’s payout ratio is currently 51.11%.

Atmos Energy Company Profile

Atmos Energy Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the regulated natural gas distribution, and pipeline and storage businesses in the United States. It operates through two segments, Distribution, and Pipeline and Storage. The Distribution segment is involved in the regulated natural gas distribution and related sales operations in eight states.