Scissortail Wealth Management LLC Takes $203,000 Position in Atmos Energy Co. (NYSE:ATO)

Scissortail Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Atmos Energy Co. (NYSE:ATO) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 1,780 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $203,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Atmos Energy by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 19,347,371 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,049,467,000 after purchasing an additional 538,578 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Atmos Energy by 7.2% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 13,649,229 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,533,627,000 after acquiring an additional 912,138 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Atmos Energy by 5.1% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,772,352 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,287,188,000 after acquiring an additional 527,261 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of Atmos Energy by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,990,424 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $952,356,000 after acquiring an additional 452,247 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Atmos Energy by 3.4% during the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,090,125 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $346,460,000 after acquiring an additional 100,681 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 90.17% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Atmos Energy news, Director Kim R. Cocklin sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.46, for a total value of $1,746,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 186,339 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,701,039.94. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Atmos Energy Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ATO traded down $0.73 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $112.33. 973,119 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 667,676. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $114.92 and a two-hundred day moving average of $113.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.83, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a current ratio of 1.44. Atmos Energy Co. has a one year low of $101.00 and a one year high of $125.28.

Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The utilities provider reported $2.08 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.09 by ($0.01). Atmos Energy had a net margin of 23.43% and a return on equity of 8.62%. The firm had revenue of $1.16 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.71 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.91 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Atmos Energy Co. will post 6.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Atmos Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 11th. Investors of record on Monday, February 26th were issued a $0.805 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 23rd. This represents a $3.22 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.87%. Atmos Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 51.11%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on ATO. Barclays upped their target price on Atmos Energy from $115.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 14th. UBS Group assumed coverage on Atmos Energy in a research note on Friday, April 12th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $124.00 price target on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Atmos Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $124.33.

Atmos Energy 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.