Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Atmos Energy Corporation $ATO

Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Atmos Energy Corporation (NYSE:ATO) by 13,309.6% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 103,254 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 102,484 shares during the quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Atmos Energy were worth $15,912,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC boosted its stake in shares of Atmos Energy by 6.1% during the 2nd quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 6,457 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $995,000 after purchasing an additional 374 shares in the last quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Atmos Energy in the second quarter worth about $204,000. Summit Global Investments bought a new stake in Atmos Energy during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $6,027,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Atmos Energy during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $261,000. Finally, Waterloo Capital L.P. raised its position in shares of Atmos Energy by 28.4% in the 2nd quarter. Waterloo Capital L.P. now owns 22,984 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,542,000 after acquiring an additional 5,088 shares in the last quarter. 90.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on ATO. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b+)” rating on shares of Atmos Energy in a research report on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $182.00 price objective on shares of Atmos Energy in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Barclays set a $175.00 target price on shares of Atmos Energy in a report on Thursday, October 9th. Argus set a $172.00 price target on shares of Atmos Energy in a research note on Thursday, September 18th. Finally, UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $159.00 price target (up from $146.00) on shares of Atmos Energy in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $170.56.

Atmos Energy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ATO opened at $175.94 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $173.49 and a 200-day moving average price of $163.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.25. The company has a market capitalization of $28.45 billion, a PE ratio of 24.17, a PEG ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.73. Atmos Energy Corporation has a 1-year low of $136.05 and a 1-year high of $180.65.

Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 14th. The utilities provider reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter. The company had revenue of $737.48 million for the quarter. Atmos Energy had a net margin of 25.05% and a return on equity of 9.00%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Atmos Energy Corporation will post 7.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Atmos Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 8th. Investors of record on Monday, November 24th will be given a dividend of $1.00 per share. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.3%. This is an increase from Atmos Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.87. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 24th. Atmos Energy’s payout ratio is 53.40%.

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.