Atmos Energy Co. (NYSE:ATO) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Atmos Energy Co. (NYSE:ATO) has been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the six ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $133.17.

ATO has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com downgraded Atmos Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Barclays boosted their price objective on Atmos Energy from $121.00 to $129.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 14th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Atmos Energy from $132.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Atmos Energy from $133.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Atmos Energy from $122.00 to $119.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 24th.

Institutional Trading of Atmos Energy

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Atmos Energy in the fourth quarter worth about $137,757,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Atmos Energy by 11.6% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,032,032 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,162,713,000 after purchasing an additional 1,041,608 shares in the last quarter. Perpetual Ltd raised its holdings in Atmos Energy by 46.2% during the 1st quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 1,411,697 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $167,808,000 after buying an additional 446,292 shares during the period. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. lifted its stake in Atmos Energy by 281.3% in the fourth quarter. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. now owns 562,622 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $65,208,000 after buying an additional 415,054 shares in the last quarter. Finally, M&G Plc acquired a new position in shares of Atmos Energy in the first quarter valued at approximately $32,941,000. Institutional investors own 90.17% of the company’s stock.

Atmos Energy Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE ATO opened at $129.21 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. The company has a market cap of $19.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.67. Atmos Energy has a 12-month low of $101.00 and a 12-month high of $132.24. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $121.52 and its 200 day simple moving average is $117.65.

Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The utilities provider reported $1.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.05 by $0.03. Atmos Energy had a net margin of 24.65% and a return on equity of 9.01%. The company had revenue of $701.55 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $924.75 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.94 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Atmos Energy will post 6.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Atmos Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 9th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 26th will be issued a $0.805 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 26th. This represents a $3.22 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.49%. Atmos Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.