Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) Price Target Increased to $140.00 by Analysts at Morgan Stanley

Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) had its target price increased by investment analysts at Morgan Stanley from $128.00 to $140.00 in a report issued on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “overweight” rating on the utilities provider’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 2.03% from the stock’s previous close.

ATO has been the subject of a number of other reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Atmos Energy from $132.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH started coverage on Atmos Energy in a research note on Monday, September 9th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $144.00 price target for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Atmos Energy from $134.00 to $144.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Atmos Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $137.71.

Atmos Energy Stock Up 0.5 %

Atmos Energy stock traded up $0.74 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $137.22. The stock had a trading volume of 133,117 shares, compared to its average volume of 895,152. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 1.57 and a current ratio of 1.73. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $130.23 and its 200-day simple moving average is $121.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.68. Atmos Energy has a 1-year low of $101.00 and a 1-year high of $138.78.

Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The utilities provider reported $1.08 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.05 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $701.55 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $924.75 million. Atmos Energy had a return on equity of 8.94% and a net margin of 25.09%. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.94 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Atmos Energy will post 6.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Atmos Energy

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Corient Private Wealth LLC raised its holdings in Atmos Energy by 15.0% in the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 32,545 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,772,000 after acquiring an additional 4,236 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in Atmos Energy by 24.4% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 72,923 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $8,452,000 after acquiring an additional 14,294 shares in the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Atmos Energy by 40.7% in the 4th quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 24,696 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,862,000 after acquiring an additional 7,141 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE raised its holdings in Atmos Energy by 32.1% in the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 9,123 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,057,000 after acquiring an additional 2,217 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Commerce Bank raised its holdings in Atmos Energy by 46.5% in the 4th quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 10,584 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,227,000 after acquiring an additional 3,359 shares in the last quarter. 90.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.