StockNews.com Downgrades Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) to Sell

Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) was downgraded by stock analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note issued on Thursday.

Several other equities analysts also recently issued reports on ATO. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Atmos Energy from $115.00 to $121.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 14th. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Atmos Energy from $131.00 to $133.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Atmos Energy has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $124.40.

Atmos Energy Stock Performance

ATO stock opened at $118.87 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $17.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.87, a PEG ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.66. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $114.40 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $113.13. Atmos Energy has a one year low of $101.00 and a one year high of $125.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a current ratio of 1.44.

Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 7th. The utilities provider reported $2.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.09 by ($0.01). Atmos Energy had a net margin of 23.43% and a return on equity of 8.62%. The company had revenue of $1.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.91 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Atmos Energy will post 6.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Kim R. Cocklin sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.46, for a total transaction of $1,746,900.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 186,339 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,701,039.94. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Atmos Energy

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ATO. BlackRock Inc. grew its stake in shares of Atmos Energy by 31.8% during the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 17,992,930 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,093,298,000 after purchasing an additional 4,343,701 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Atmos Energy in the 4th quarter valued at $137,757,000. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings 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 in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Atmos Energy by 3.3% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,962,224 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,026,815,000 after purchasing an additional 547,260 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in Atmos Energy by 24.0% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,756,708 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $329,399,000 after purchasing an additional 533,372 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.17% of the company’s stock.

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.