StockNews.com Downgrades Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) to Sell

Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) was downgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note issued on Saturday.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on ATO. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Atmos Energy from $115.00 to $121.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. UBS Group began coverage on shares of Atmos Energy in a research note on Friday, April 12th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $124.00 target price for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $124.33.

Atmos Energy Stock Performance

Atmos Energy stock opened at $116.93 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. Atmos Energy has a 1 year low of $101.00 and a 1 year high of $125.28. The company has a market cap of $17.64 billion, a PE ratio of 18.56, a PEG ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.66. The company’s 50-day moving average is $115.55 and its two-hundred day moving average is $114.01.

Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The utilities provider reported $2.08 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.09 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $1.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. Atmos Energy had a net margin of 23.43% and a return on equity of 8.62%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.91 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Atmos Energy will post 6.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Atmos Energy

In related news, Director Kim R. Cocklin sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the director now owns 186,339 shares in the company, valued at $21,701,039.94. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. AE Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Atmos Energy by 21.7% during the 3rd quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,742 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $290,000 after buying an additional 489 shares in the last quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC raised its holdings in shares of Atmos Energy by 36.6% during the 3rd quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 3,822 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $405,000 after buying an additional 1,025 shares in the last quarter. Czech National Bank raised its holdings in shares of Atmos Energy by 51.7% during the 3rd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 25,948 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,749,000 after buying an additional 8,844 shares in the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Atmos Energy by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 134,158 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $14,211,000 after buying an additional 1,385 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bfsg LLC raised its holdings in shares of Atmos Energy by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Bfsg LLC now owns 11,110 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,177,000 after buying an additional 275 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.