Clark Capital Management Group Inc. Raises Holdings in Atmos Energy Corporation $ATO

Clark Capital Management Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Atmos Energy Corporation (NYSE:ATO) by 13.9% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 369,236 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 45,194 shares during the period. Clark Capital Management Group Inc.’s holdings in Atmos Energy were worth $61,895,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Atmos Energy by 1.3% in 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 buying an additional 276,485 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its holdings in Atmos Energy by 8.5% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 11,893,826 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,993,968,000 after buying an additional 927,986 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Atmos Energy by 1.5% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Atmos Energy by 1.9% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE grew its holdings in Atmos Energy by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 3,737,053 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $638,102,000 after buying an additional 84,786 shares in the last quarter. 90.17% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Barclays upped their target price on Atmos Energy from $167.00 to $184.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. Truist Financial dropped their target price on Atmos Energy from $195.00 to $187.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 18th. Citigroup upped their target price on Atmos Energy from $182.00 to $191.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. TD Cowen upped their target price on Atmos Energy from $193.00 to $196.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 15th. Finally, Mizuho dropped 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $181.90.

Atmos Energy Stock Performance

NYSE ATO opened at $169.55 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $28.30 billion, a PE ratio of 20.83, a P/E/G ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. Atmos Energy Corporation has a twelve month low of $149.98 and a twelve month high of $192.51. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $179.64 and a 200-day simple moving average of $176.59.

Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The utilities provider reported $3.47 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.37 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $1.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.94 billion. Atmos Energy had a return on equity of 9.59% and a net margin of 27.58%.During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.03 EPS. Atmos Energy has set its FY 2026 guidance at 8.400-8.500 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Atmos Energy Corporation will post 8.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Atmos Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 8th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 26th were issued a dividend of $1.00 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 26th. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. Atmos Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 49.14%.

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.