Atmos Energy Corporation $ATO Shares Sold by Xponance Inc.

Xponance Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of Atmos Energy Corporation (NYSE:ATO) by 12.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 25,335 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 3,661 shares during the period. Xponance Inc.’s holdings in Atmos Energy were worth $4,326,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Atmos Energy in the second quarter valued at $282,487,000. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in Atmos Energy by 94.9% during the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 3,652,267 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $562,851,000 after buying an additional 1,778,653 shares during the period. Squarepoint Ops LLC boosted its stake in Atmos Energy by 220.1% in the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 720,956 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $111,107,000 after buying an additional 495,712 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in Atmos Energy by 23.6% in the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,899,283 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $292,699,000 after buying an additional 362,894 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mizuho Markets Americas LLC purchased a new stake in Atmos Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at about $48,798,000. 90.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ATO has been the topic of several research analyst reports. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Atmos Energy from $159.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. Mizuho boosted their price target on Atmos Energy from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 2nd. Zacks Research upgraded Atmos Energy to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 18th. Barclays boosted their target price on Atmos Energy from $165.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Atmos Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, February 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $175.67.

Atmos Energy Trading Up 1.7%

NYSE:ATO opened at $186.79 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $30.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.74. Atmos Energy Corporation has a one year low of $141.59 and a one year high of $187.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.13. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $171.56 and its 200 day simple moving average is $170.97.

Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 3rd. The utilities provider reported $2.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.41 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $1.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.21 billion. Atmos Energy had a return on equity of 9.20% and a net margin of 25.67%.During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.23 EPS. Atmos Energy has set its FY 2026 guidance at 8.150-8.350 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Atmos Energy Corporation will post 7.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Atmos Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 9th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 23rd will be issued a dividend of $1.00 per share. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 23rd. Atmos Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 51.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Atmos Energy

In other news, Director Sean Donohue sold 450 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.15, for a total transaction of $77,017.50. Following the transaction, the director owned 877 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $150,098.55. This trade represents a 33.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.43% of the company’s stock.

Atmos Energy Profile

Atmos Energy Corporation (NYSE: ATO) is a U.S.-based natural-gas utility that primarily focuses on the regulated distribution of natural gas. Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, the company operates through local distribution systems to deliver natural gas to residential, commercial, industrial and electric generation customers. Atmos’s core activities include pipeline operations, gas distribution, system maintenance and reliability programs designed to ensure safe and continuous service to its customers.

The company’s services encompass gas delivery, system integrity and maintenance, storage and transmission connections, and customer-facing programs such as billing, conservation initiatives and energy-efficiency offerings.