Optimize Financial Inc Purchases Shares of 1,688 Atmos Energy Corporation $ATO

Optimize Financial Inc purchased a new stake in Atmos Energy Corporation (NYSE:ATO) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 1,688 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $261,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ATO. Brighton Jones LLC acquired a new stake in Atmos Energy in the 4th quarter valued at $233,000. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its stake in shares of Atmos Energy by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 18,799 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,618,000 after purchasing an additional 186 shares during the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth increased its stake in shares of Atmos Energy by 162.3% during the 4th quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 4,934 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $689,000 after purchasing an additional 3,053 shares during the last quarter. LMR Partners LLP increased its stake in shares of Atmos Energy by 28.6% during the 4th quarter. LMR Partners LLP now owns 2,075 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $289,000 after purchasing an additional 462 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Atmos Energy by 28.0% during the 4th quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 118,135 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $16,452,000 after purchasing an additional 25,835 shares during the last quarter. 90.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on ATO. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Atmos Energy from $148.00 to $163.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Atmos Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, August 17th. Argus upgraded shares of Atmos Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Atmos Energy in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. Finally, UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $159.00 price objective (up from $146.00) on shares of Atmos Energy in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $158.27.

Atmos Energy Stock Performance

Shares of ATO stock opened at $164.10 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $26.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.54, a PEG ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a current ratio of 1.37. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $160.27 and a 200 day simple moving average of $155.98. Atmos Energy Corporation has a 52 week low of $132.58 and a 52 week high of $168.86.

Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $1.16 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.17 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $838.77 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $848.97 million. Atmos Energy had a return on equity of 9.00% and a net margin of 25.05%.During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.08 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Atmos Energy Corporation will post 7.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Atmos Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 25th were given a dividend of $0.87 per share. This represents a $3.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 25th. Atmos Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 47.80%.

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.