Portfolio Design Labs LLC Makes New $600,000 Investment in Atmos Energy Corporation $ATO

Portfolio Design Labs LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Atmos Energy Corporation (NYSE:ATO) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm acquired 3,480 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $600,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Atmos Energy by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,032,554 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,525,687,000 after purchasing an additional 276,485 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in Atmos Energy in the second quarter valued at about $2,624,975,000. Capital International Investors boosted its position in Atmos Energy by 8.5% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 11,893,826 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,993,968,000 after buying an additional 927,986 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in Atmos Energy by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,786,358 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,808,117,000 after buying an additional 155,836 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Atmos Energy by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,214,985 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $703,824,000 after buying an additional 78,438 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.17% of the company’s stock.

Atmos Energy Trading Down 0.4%

ATO opened at $170.63 on Friday. Atmos Energy Corporation has a 1-year low of $160.10 and a 1-year high of $192.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $28.83 billion, a PE ratio of 20.29, a PEG ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $173.62 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $178.34.

Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by $0.08. Atmos Energy had a net margin of 28.50% and a return on equity of 9.67%. The company had revenue of $879.06 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $900.82 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.16 earnings per share. Atmos Energy has set its FY 2026 guidance at 8.400-8.500 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Atmos Energy Corporation will post 8.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Atmos Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 24th will be issued a dividend of $1.00 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 24th. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.3%. Atmos Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.56%.

Insider Transactions at Atmos Energy

In other news, Director William James Ware acquired 300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $167.59 per share, for a total transaction of $50,277.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 488 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $81,783.92. This represents a 159.57% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.43% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on ATO shares. Truist Financial cut their target price on shares of Atmos Energy from $188.00 to $179.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 13th. Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on Atmos Energy in a research report on Monday, July 13th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $200.00 price target on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Atmos Energy from $196.00 to $198.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Atmos Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Atmos Energy from $193.00 to $196.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 15th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $188.27.

Atmos Energy 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.