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

Atmos Energy Co. (NYSE:ATO) has been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eight research firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $143.94.

A number of research firms recently issued reports on ATO. Barclays increased their target price on Atmos Energy from $129.00 to $144.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Atmos Energy from $145.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Atmos Energy from $134.00 to $144.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. StockNews.com cut Atmos Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Atmos Energy from $128.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th.

Atmos Energy Stock Performance

Shares of ATO stock opened at $140.72 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 1.73 and a quick ratio of 1.57. The stock has a market cap of $21.23 billion, a PE ratio of 21.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.68. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $136.25 and a 200-day moving average of $125.13. Atmos Energy has a one year low of $105.44 and a one year high of $144.32.

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

Atmos Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 9th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 26th were paid a dividend of $0.805 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 26th. This represents a $3.22 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.29%. Atmos Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 48.28%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Atmos Energy

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Atmos Energy by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 19,472,036 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,314,641,000 after buying an additional 127,199 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Atmos Energy by 5.6% in the 1st quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 1,575,191 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $187,243,000 after buying an additional 83,661 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in shares of Atmos Energy by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,550,227 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $180,834,000 after buying an additional 19,981 shares during the last quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP boosted its holdings in shares of Atmos Energy by 4.6% in the 2nd quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 1,521,696 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $177,506,000 after buying an additional 66,345 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sfmg LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Atmos Energy by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. Sfmg LLC now owns 1,059,221 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $123,558,000 after buying an additional 9,253 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.17% of the company’s stock.

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.