Hartford Investment Management Co. Sells 186 Shares of Atmos Energy Co. (NYSE:ATO)

Hartford Investment Management Co. lowered its position in Atmos Energy Co. (NYSE:ATO) by 1.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,627 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 186 shares during the quarter. Hartford Investment Management Co.’s holdings in Atmos Energy were worth $1,341,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Dunhill Financial LLC lifted its position in shares of Atmos Energy by 1,542.9% during the 3rd quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 230 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 216 shares during the period. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. lifted its position in shares of Atmos Energy by 50.0% during the 4th quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 300 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. PFS Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Atmos Energy during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $69,000. Keystone Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Atmos Energy during the 4th quarter worth approximately $79,000. Finally, Slocum Gordon & Co LLP bought a new position in shares of Atmos Energy during the 4th quarter worth approximately $125,000. Institutional investors own 90.17% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Argus upgraded Atmos Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $150.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Bank of America assumed coverage on Atmos Energy in a research report on Friday, December 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $156.00 price objective for the company. StockNews.com downgraded Atmos Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Atmos Energy from $148.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Atmos Energy from $145.00 to $143.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $148.75.

Atmos Energy Stock Down 0.9 %

NYSE:ATO opened at $146.67 on Friday. Atmos Energy Co. has a 1 year low of $110.97 and a 1 year high of $152.65. The company has a current ratio of 1.56, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The stock has a market cap of $23.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.89, a PEG ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.72. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $141.20 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $139.01.

Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The utilities provider reported $2.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.20 by $0.03. Atmos Energy had a return on equity of 8.89% and a net margin of 25.90%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Atmos Energy Co. will post 7.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Atmos Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be issued a $0.87 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $3.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.37%. Atmos Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 49.57%.

Atmos Energy Company Profile

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.