SlateStone Wealth LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Atmos Energy Corporation (NYSE:ATO)

SlateStone Wealth LLC lowered its stake in Atmos Energy Corporation (NYSE:ATO) by 7.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 7,105 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 550 shares during the quarter. SlateStone Wealth LLC’s holdings in Atmos Energy were worth $1,098,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Sowell Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Atmos Energy in the first quarter valued at about $273,000. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Atmos Energy by 28.8% in the 1st quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,158 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $334,000 after buying an additional 482 shares during the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Atmos Energy by 4.0% in the 1st quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 29,861 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,616,000 after buying an additional 1,157 shares during the last quarter. Private Trust Co. NA increased its stake in Atmos Energy by 26.0% during the 1st quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 378 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $58,000 after buying an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Atmos Energy by 41.7% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,825 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $282,000 after acquiring an additional 537 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.17% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised Atmos Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Atmos Energy from $164.00 to $166.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Argus raised shares of Atmos Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Atmos Energy from $146.00 to $159.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Atmos Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $157.14.

Insider Activity

In other Atmos Energy news, Director Kim R. Cocklin sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.98, for a total value of $2,264,700.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 172,632 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,063,979.36. This represents a 7.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.48% of the company’s stock.

Atmos Energy Stock Performance

NYSE:ATO opened at $156.41 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $154.33 and its two-hundred day moving average is $151.88. Atmos Energy Corporation has a 1-year low of $126.08 and a 1-year high of $167.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 1.33 and a quick ratio of 1.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.72, a PEG ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.70.

Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $3.03 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.92 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $1.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.82 billion. Atmos Energy had a return on equity of 9.05% and a net margin of 25.35%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 18.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.85 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Atmos Energy Corporation will post 7.18 EPS for the current year.

Atmos Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 9th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 27th were issued a dividend of $0.87 per share. This represents a $3.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 27th. Atmos Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 48.33%.

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.