Atmos Energy Co. (NYSE:ATO) Shares Purchased by Farther Finance Advisors LLC

Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Atmos Energy Co. (NYSE:ATO) by 70.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,401 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 994 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC’s holdings in Atmos Energy were worth $333,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of ATO. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Atmos Energy by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 19,472,036 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,314,641,000 after buying an additional 127,199 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Atmos Energy by 5.6% during the 1st quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 1,575,191 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $187,243,000 after buying an additional 83,661 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in shares of Atmos Energy by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,550,227 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $180,834,000 after buying an additional 19,981 shares during the last quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP increased its holdings in shares of Atmos Energy by 4.6% during the 2nd quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 1,521,696 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $177,506,000 after buying an additional 66,345 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sfmg LLC boosted its position in shares of Atmos Energy by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. Sfmg LLC now owns 1,059,221 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $123,558,000 after purchasing an additional 9,253 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.17% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ATO has been the subject of several recent research reports. StockNews.com raised shares of Atmos Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Atmos Energy from $145.00 to $156.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised their price objective on shares of Atmos Energy from $144.00 to $150.50 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Atmos Energy from $134.00 to $144.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Atmos Energy from $129.00 to $144.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Atmos Energy currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $143.94.

Atmos Energy Stock Up 1.9 %

Shares of NYSE:ATO opened at $144.14 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $22.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.98, a PEG ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.68. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $138.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $126.80. The company has a quick ratio of 1.57, a current ratio of 1.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. Atmos Energy Co. has a fifty-two week low of $110.40 and a fifty-two week high of $145.27.

Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The utilities provider reported $1.08 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.05 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $701.55 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $924.75 million. Atmos Energy had a net margin of 25.09% and a return on equity of 8.94%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.94 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Atmos Energy Co. will post 6.8 earnings per share for the current year.

Atmos Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 9th. Investors of record on Monday, November 25th will be issued a dividend of $0.87 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 25th. This represents a $3.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.41%. This is an increase from Atmos Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.81. Atmos Energy’s payout ratio is currently 46.87%.

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.