Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) Posts Earnings Results

Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday. The utilities provider reported $2.85 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.62 by $0.23, Briefing.com reports. Atmos Energy had a net margin of 23.43% and a return on equity of 8.62%. The company had revenue of $1.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.54 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.48 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Atmos Energy updated its FY24 guidance to $6.70-6.80 EPS and its FY 2024 guidance to 6.700-6.800 EPS.

Atmos Energy Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ATO opened at $118.77 on Friday. Atmos Energy has a fifty-two week low of $101.00 and a fifty-two week high of $125.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 1.25. The company has a market capitalization of $17.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.98, a P/E/G ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.66. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $116.65 and its 200 day simple moving average is $114.48.

Atmos Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 28th will be paid a $0.805 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 24th. This represents a $3.22 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.71%. Atmos Energy’s payout ratio is presently 51.11%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group began coverage on shares of Atmos Energy in a research note on Friday, April 12th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $124.00 target price for the company. StockNews.com cut Atmos Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 27th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on Atmos Energy from $115.00 to $121.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $124.33.

Insider Transactions at Atmos Energy

In other news, Director Kim R. Cocklin sold 15,000 shares of Atmos Energy stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.46, for a total transaction of $1,746,900.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 186,339 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,701,039.94. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

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.