Atmos Energy Corporation $ATO Shares Sold by Vest Financial LLC

Vest Financial LLC cut its stake in shares of Atmos Energy Corporation (NYSE:ATO) by 19.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 278,526 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 69,151 shares during the period. Vest Financial LLC’s holdings in Atmos Energy were worth $46,689,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of ATO. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in 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 during the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its holdings in Atmos Energy by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 10,965,840 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,872,162,000 after purchasing an additional 359,780 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Atmos Energy by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,630,522 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,815,162,000 after purchasing an additional 356,942 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in Atmos Energy by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 3,737,053 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $638,102,000 after purchasing an additional 84,786 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in Atmos Energy by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,099,360 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $529,216,000 after purchasing an additional 17,022 shares during the last quarter. 90.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ATO has been the topic of several analyst reports. Barclays lifted their price objective on Atmos Energy from $167.00 to $184.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Atmos Energy from $197.00 to $195.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Weiss Ratings upgraded Atmos Energy from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Truist Financial initiated coverage on Atmos Energy in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. They set a “hold” rating and a $195.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Atmos Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, March 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Atmos Energy presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $181.11.

Atmos Energy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ATO opened at $185.67 on Tuesday. Atmos Energy Corporation has a twelve month low of $149.98 and a twelve month high of $192.51. The company has a current ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The company has a market capitalization of $30.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.69. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $185.17 and a 200-day simple moving average of $176.48.

Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 3rd. The utilities provider reported $2.44 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.41 by $0.03. Atmos Energy had a return on equity of 9.20% and a net margin of 25.67%.The business had revenue of $1.34 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.21 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.23 EPS. Atmos Energy has set its FY 2026 guidance at 8.150-8.350 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Atmos Energy Corporation will post 8.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Atmos Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 9th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 23rd were issued a $1.00 dividend. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 23rd. Atmos Energy’s payout ratio is 51.95%.

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.