Atmos Energy Corporation (NYSE:ATO) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

Atmos Energy Corporation (NYSE:ATO) has been given a consensus rating of “Hold” by the twelve analysts that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, one has assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $181.50.

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on ATO shares. Morgan Stanley set a $183.00 price objective on shares of Atmos Energy in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Atmos Energy from $193.00 to $196.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 15th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Atmos Energy from $182.00 to $191.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Atmos Energy from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Atmos Energy from $167.00 to $184.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 8th.

Atmos Energy Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of NYSE:ATO opened at $177.98 on Friday. Atmos Energy has a 12 month low of $149.98 and a 12 month high of $192.51. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $184.16 and its 200 day simple moving average is $177.26. The firm has a market cap of $29.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.86, a PEG ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.65.

Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The utilities provider reported $3.47 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.37 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $1.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.94 billion. Atmos Energy had a net margin of 27.58% and a return on equity of 9.59%. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.03 earnings per share. Atmos Energy has set its FY 2026 guidance at 8.400-8.500 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Atmos Energy will post 8.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Atmos Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 8th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 26th will be issued a dividend of $1.00 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 26th. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. Atmos Energy’s payout ratio is presently 49.14%.

Institutional Trading of Atmos Energy

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Allstate Corp acquired a new position in shares of Atmos Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $961,000. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd raised its position in shares of Atmos Energy by 133.1% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd now owns 39,904 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $6,814,000 after buying an additional 22,784 shares in the last quarter. TABR Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Atmos Energy in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,096,000. Calton & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Atmos Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $901,000. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its position in shares of Atmos Energy by 12.6% in the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 182,173 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $30,853,000 after buying an additional 20,408 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.17% of the company’s stock.

About Atmos Energy

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.