Retirement Guys Formula LLC Acquires New Shares in Atmos Energy Corporation $ATO

Retirement Guys Formula LLC bought a new position in shares of Atmos Energy Corporation (NYSE:ATO) during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 3,007 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $513,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. W.H. Cornerstone Investments Inc. increased its position in Atmos Energy by 16.7% in the 2nd quarter. W.H. Cornerstone Investments Inc. now owns 7,625 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,175,000 after buying an additional 1,093 shares in the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp increased its holdings in Atmos Energy by 2.9% during the 2nd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 34,705 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,348,000 after purchasing an additional 981 shares in the last quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich raised its stake in shares of Atmos Energy by 267.0% in the second quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 2,822 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $435,000 after purchasing an additional 2,053 shares during the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL boosted its position in shares of Atmos Energy by 8.4% during the second quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 1,970 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $304,000 after buying an additional 152 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its holdings in Atmos Energy by 32.2% during the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 552,595 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $85,097,000 after buying an additional 134,748 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.17% of the company’s stock.

Atmos Energy Trading Down 0.6%

Shares of ATO stock opened at $167.62 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.65. Atmos Energy Corporation has a 1-year low of $136.16 and a 1-year high of $180.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $27.11 billion, a PE ratio of 22.38, a P/E/G ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.77. The business has a 50-day moving average of $172.03 and a 200 day moving average of $166.10.

Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 14th. The utilities provider reported $1.04 earnings per share for the quarter. The business had revenue of $737.48 million for the quarter. Atmos Energy had a net margin of 25.49% and a return on equity of 9.07%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Atmos Energy Corporation will post 7.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Atmos Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 24th were given a $1.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 24th. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. This is a boost from Atmos Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.87. Atmos Energy’s payout ratio is currently 53.40%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Sean Donohue sold 450 shares of Atmos Energy stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.15, for a total transaction of $77,017.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 877 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $150,098.55. This trade represents a 33.91% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.43% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Mizuho raised their price objective on Atmos Energy from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 2nd. Argus set a $172.00 target price on Atmos Energy in a research note on Thursday, September 18th. Cowen assumed coverage on Atmos Energy in a research note on Wednesday, October 15th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Atmos Energy in a research note on Monday. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Atmos Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, December 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Atmos Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $172.22.

About Atmos Energy

Atmos Energy Corporation (NYSE: ATO) is a U.S.-based natural-gas utility that primarily focuses on the regulated distribution of natural gas. Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, the company operates through local distribution systems to deliver natural gas to residential, commercial, industrial and electric generation customers. Atmos’s core activities include pipeline operations, gas distribution, system maintenance and reliability programs designed to ensure safe and continuous service to its customers.

The company’s services encompass gas delivery, system integrity and maintenance, storage and transmission connections, and customer-facing programs such as billing, conservation initiatives and energy-efficiency offerings.