Hartford Investment Management Co. Sells 404 Shares of Atmos Energy Co. (NYSE:ATO)

Hartford Investment Management Co. cut its holdings in shares of Atmos Energy Co. (NYSE:ATO) by 3.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,028 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 404 shares during the quarter. Hartford Investment Management Co.’s holdings in Atmos Energy were worth $1,162,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of ATO. BlackRock Inc. raised its holdings in Atmos Energy by 7.2% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 13,649,229 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,533,627,000 after acquiring an additional 912,138 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Atmos Energy by 3.3% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,962,224 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,026,815,000 after acquiring an additional 547,260 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in Atmos Energy by 24.0% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,756,708 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $329,399,000 after acquiring an additional 533,372 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Atmos Energy by 5.1% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,772,352 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,287,188,000 after acquiring an additional 527,261 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of Atmos Energy by 5.3% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,990,424 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $952,356,000 after purchasing an additional 452,247 shares in the last quarter. 90.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Atmos Energy

In other Atmos Energy news, Director Kim R. Cocklin sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.46, for a total transaction of $1,746,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 186,339 shares in the company, valued at $21,701,039.94. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on ATO. StockNews.com lowered Atmos Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Mizuho raised their price objective on Atmos Energy from $131.00 to $133.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 14th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on Atmos Energy from $115.00 to $121.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $124.40.

Atmos Energy Trading Up 0.1 %

ATO opened at $116.23 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $17.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.45, a P/E/G ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.66. Atmos Energy Co. has a 12 month low of $101.00 and a 12 month high of $125.28. The company has a current ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $114.81 and a 200 day moving average of $113.19.

Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The utilities provider reported $2.08 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.09 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $1.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.71 billion. Atmos Energy had a return on equity of 8.62% and a net margin of 23.43%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.91 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Atmos Energy Co. will post 6.59 EPS for the current year.

Atmos Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 26th were given a dividend of $0.805 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 23rd. This represents a $3.22 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.77%. Atmos Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.11%.

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.