Empirical Asset Management LLC Acquires New Position in Atmos Energy Corporation $ATO

Empirical Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Atmos Energy Corporation (NYSE:ATO) in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm bought 3,723 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $641,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake 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 valued at $3,525,687,000 after purchasing an additional 276,485 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Atmos Energy during the second quarter worth $2,624,975,000. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in shares of Atmos Energy by 8.5% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 11,893,826 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,993,968,000 after buying an additional 927,986 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Atmos Energy by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,786,358 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,808,117,000 after buying an additional 155,836 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew 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 valued at $703,824,000 after buying an additional 78,438 shares during the last quarter. 90.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ATO has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on Atmos Energy in a research note on Monday, July 13th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $200.00 target price for the company. Wall Street Zen downgraded Atmos Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Citigroup raised their price objective on Atmos Energy from $182.00 to $191.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Mizuho decreased their target price on Atmos Energy from $192.00 to $184.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $196.00 target price on Atmos Energy in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $188.27.

Atmos Energy Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ATO opened at $170.60 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $28.83 billion, a PE ratio of 20.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 0.81. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $173.54 and its 200 day moving average price is $178.28. Atmos Energy Corporation has a 1 year low of $160.10 and a 1 year high of $192.51.

Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.35 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $879.06 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $900.82 million. Atmos Energy had a return on equity of 9.67% and a net margin of 28.50%.During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.16 EPS. Atmos Energy has set its FY 2026 guidance at 8.400-8.500 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Atmos Energy Corporation will post 8.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Atmos Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 24th will be given a $1.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 24th. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. Atmos Energy’s payout ratio is 47.56%.

Insider Activity at Atmos Energy

In other Atmos Energy news, Director William James Ware acquired 300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $167.59 per share, for a total transaction of $50,277.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 488 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $81,783.92. This represents a 159.57% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.43% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.