AIA Group Ltd Has $607,000 Holdings in Atmos Energy Co. (NYSE:ATO)

AIA Group Ltd lifted its holdings in Atmos Energy Co. (NYSE:ATO) by 15.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 5,105 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 679 shares during the quarter. AIA Group Ltd’s holdings in Atmos Energy were worth $607,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. lifted its holdings in Atmos Energy by 4.4% during the 1st quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 3,122 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $371,000 after buying an additional 131 shares in the last quarter. Empirical Finance LLC lifted its holdings in Atmos Energy by 4.0% during the 1st quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 4,789 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $569,000 after buying an additional 183 shares in the last quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp lifted its holdings in Atmos Energy by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 31,182 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,707,000 after buying an additional 520 shares in the last quarter. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd acquired a new position in Atmos Energy during the 1st quarter worth $331,000. Finally, Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in Atmos Energy by 134.7% during the 1st quarter. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC now owns 228,038 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $27,107,000 after buying an additional 130,875 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.17% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have issued reports on ATO shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised Atmos Energy from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $130.00 to $132.00 in a report on Tuesday, May 14th. StockNews.com raised Atmos Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Atmos Energy from $133.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 13th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Atmos Energy from $121.00 to $129.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 14th. Finally, UBS Group started coverage on shares of Atmos Energy in a research report on Friday, April 12th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $124.00 target price for the company. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $128.67.

Atmos Energy Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of Atmos Energy stock traded up $1.04 on Friday, hitting $120.91. 816,031 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 915,414. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 1.22. Atmos Energy Co. has a one year low of $101.00 and a one year high of $125.28. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $116.38 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $115.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.24 billion, a PE ratio of 18.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.67.

Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 8th. The utilities provider reported $2.85 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.62 by $0.23. Atmos Energy had a net margin of 24.65% and a return on equity of 9.01%. The business had revenue of $1.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.54 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.48 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Atmos Energy Co. will post 6.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Atmos Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 28th were given a $0.805 dividend. This represents a $3.22 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.66%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 24th. Atmos Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 48.28%.

Insider Activity at Atmos Energy

In other Atmos Energy news, Director Diana J. Walters sold 400 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.00, for a total transaction of $47,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 3,551 shares in the company, valued at approximately $419,018. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Atmos Energy

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.