Barclays Increases Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) Price Target to $184.00

Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) had its price target boosted by analysts at Barclays from $167.00 to $184.00 in a research note issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “equal weight” rating on the utilities provider’s stock. Barclays‘s price objective would indicate a potential downside of 2.18% from the company’s previous close.

ATO has been the subject of a number of other reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded Atmos Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 7th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Atmos Energy in a report on Monday, December 29th. Morgan Stanley set a $192.00 target price on shares of Atmos Energy in a research note on Friday, February 20th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Atmos Energy from $159.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Atmos Energy from $163.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $177.56.

Atmos Energy Stock Down 0.3%

NYSE:ATO traded down $0.59 on Wednesday, hitting $188.11. 114,886 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,295,929. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $180.91 and a 200-day moving average price of $174.78. Atmos Energy has a 52 week low of $142.54 and a 52 week high of $190.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 1.13 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The company has a market cap of $31.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.69.

Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 3rd. The utilities provider reported $2.44 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.41 by $0.03. Atmos Energy had a return on equity of 9.20% and a net margin of 25.67%.The company had revenue of $1.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.21 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.23 EPS. Atmos Energy has set its FY 2026 guidance at 8.150-8.350 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Atmos Energy will post 7.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ATO. Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its holdings in shares of Atmos Energy by 54.0% during the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 816,586 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $136,888,000 after buying an additional 286,406 shares during the period. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. raised its holdings in Atmos Energy by 57.1% in the 4th quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 14,623 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,451,000 after acquiring an additional 5,312 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors raised its holdings in Atmos Energy by 69.4% in the 4th quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 2,716 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $455,000 after acquiring an additional 1,113 shares during the period. Corient Private Wealth LLC lifted its position in Atmos Energy by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 57,781 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $9,694,000 after acquiring an additional 2,402 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Targeted Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Atmos Energy during the fourth quarter worth approximately $837,000. 90.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Atmos Energy Company Profile

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.