Analysts Set Atmos Energy Co. (NYSE:ATO) PT at $143.94

Atmos Energy Co. (NYSE:ATO) has received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eight research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $143.94.

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on ATO shares. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upped their price target on shares of Atmos Energy from $144.00 to $150.50 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Atmos Energy from $145.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Atmos Energy from $128.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Barclays raised their target price on Atmos Energy from $129.00 to $144.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Atmos Energy from $134.00 to $144.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Atmos Energy

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in Atmos Energy by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 136,387 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $18,918,000 after purchasing an additional 5,343 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in shares of Atmos Energy by 4.0% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 41,661 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,962,000 after purchasing an additional 1,614 shares during the last quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Atmos Energy by 17.4% in the third quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 6,609 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $946,000 after buying an additional 980 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Atmos Energy by 70.6% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,401 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $333,000 after buying an additional 994 shares during the last quarter. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund boosted its stake in Atmos Energy by 11.8% during the third quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 370,918 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $51,450,000 after buying an additional 39,027 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.17% of the company’s stock.

Atmos Energy Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ATO opened at $139.62 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.57, a current ratio of 1.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $136.72 and its 200-day moving average price is $125.58. Atmos Energy has a 52-week low of $106.69 and a 52-week high of $144.32. The company has a market cap of $21.67 billion, a PE ratio of 20.50, a PEG ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.68.

Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The utilities provider reported $1.08 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.05 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $701.55 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $924.75 million. Atmos Energy had a net margin of 25.09% and a return on equity of 8.94%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.94 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Atmos Energy will post 6.79 EPS for the current year.

Atmos Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 9th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 26th were given a dividend of $0.805 per share. This represents a $3.22 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.31%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 26th. Atmos Energy’s payout ratio is currently 47.28%.

About Atmos Energy

Atmos Energy Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the regulated natural gas distribution, and pipeline and storage businesses in the United States. It operates through two segments, Distribution, and Pipeline and Storage. The Distribution segment is involved in the regulated natural gas distribution and related sales operations in eight states.