Vanguard Group Inc. Has $2.31 Billion Stock Position in Atmos Energy Co. (NYSE:ATO)

Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Atmos Energy Co. (NYSE:ATO) by 0.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 19,472,036 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 127,199 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 12.91% of Atmos Energy worth $2,314,641,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 1,041,608 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its position in Atmos Energy by 5.6% during the first quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 1,575,191 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $187,243,000 after acquiring an additional 83,661 shares during the last quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main lifted its position in Atmos Energy by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 1,489,174 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $172,595,000 after acquiring an additional 50,209 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in Atmos Energy by 19.6% during the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,484,105 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $172,008,000 after acquiring an additional 242,722 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Perpetual Ltd lifted its position in Atmos Energy by 46.2% during the first quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 1,411,697 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $167,808,000 after acquiring an additional 446,292 shares during the last quarter. 90.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Atmos Energy

In other Atmos Energy news, Director Diana J. Walters sold 400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 16th. The shares were 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 directly owns 3,551 shares in the company, valued at $419,018. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on ATO shares. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Atmos Energy from $121.00 to $129.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 14th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Atmos Energy from $122.00 to $119.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 24th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Atmos Energy from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $130.00 to $132.00 in a research report on Tuesday, May 14th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Atmos Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday. 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 price objective for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $128.67.

Atmos Energy Price Performance

Shares of ATO stock traded down $0.27 during trading on Friday, hitting $122.95. The company had a trading volume of 1,031,875 shares, compared to its average volume of 881,717. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.67. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $116.72 and its 200 day moving average price is $115.92. Atmos Energy Co. has a one year low of $101.00 and a one year high of $125.38.

Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The utilities provider reported $2.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.62 by $0.23. The business had revenue of $1.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.54 billion. Atmos Energy had a return on equity of 9.01% and a net margin of 24.65%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.48 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Atmos Energy Co. will post 6.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Atmos Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 28th were given a dividend of $0.805 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 24th. This represents a $3.22 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.62%. Atmos Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 48.28%.

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.