Davis Investment Partners LLC Makes New $562,000 Investment in Atmos Energy Corporation $ATO

Davis Investment Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Atmos Energy Corporation (NYSE:ATO) in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 3,590 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $562,000.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Atmos Energy in the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. Continuum Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in Atmos Energy during the second quarter valued at about $25,000. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Atmos Energy during the second quarter valued at about $28,000. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Atmos Energy by 627.3% during the second quarter. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC now owns 160 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 138 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Downshift Financial LLC boosted its position in Atmos Energy by 2,514.3% during the third quarter. Downshift Financial LLC now owns 183 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 176 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.17% of the company’s stock.

Atmos Energy Stock Performance

Shares of ATO opened at $175.31 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $165.15 and its 200 day simple moving average is $174.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $29.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 0.81. Atmos Energy Corporation has a 52-week low of $154.72 and a 52-week high of $192.51.

Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 4th. The utilities provider reported $1.17 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.14 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $837.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $873.77 million. Atmos Energy had a return on equity of 9.63% and a net margin of 28.50%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.07 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Atmos Energy Corporation will post 9.10 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Atmos Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 23rd will be given a $1.09 dividend. This represents a $4.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.5%. This is an increase from Atmos Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 23rd. Atmos Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.00%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on ATO shares. Truist Financial reduced their target price on shares of Atmos Energy from $179.00 to $174.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 15th. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “overweight” rating and set a $201.00 price target on shares of Atmos Energy in a research note on Friday, November 6th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Atmos Energy from $179.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 21st. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Atmos Energy from $184.00 to $183.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of Atmos Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $198.00 to $180.00 in a research note on Friday, September 11th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $183.36.

About Atmos Energy

Atmos Energy Corporation is a regulated natural gas utility and pipeline operator headquartered in Dallas, Texas. The company distributes natural gas to residential, commercial and industrial customers and operates natural gas transmission and storage assets. Its regulated distribution business serves customers in eight states: Colorado, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia. Through its pipeline and storage operations, Atmos Energy moves and stores natural gas, primarily in Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi.