Eurizon Capital SGR S.p.A. Acquires 14,339 Shares of Atmos Energy Corporation $ATO

Eurizon Capital SGR S.p.A. grew its holdings in shares of Atmos Energy Corporation (NYSE:ATO) by 7.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 196,316 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 14,339 shares during the quarter. Eurizon Capital SGR S.p.A.’s holdings in Atmos Energy were worth $30,713,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in Atmos Energy in the second quarter worth $2,624,975,000. Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in Atmos Energy by 11.0% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 4,199,433 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $775,719,000 after buying an additional 416,933 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG acquired a new position in Atmos Energy during the second quarter worth $431,677,000. Amundi increased its position in Atmos Energy by 40.0% during the second quarter. Amundi now owns 1,823,714 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $314,171,000 after buying an additional 520,828 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc bought a new position in Atmos Energy during the second quarter valued at about $276,558,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.17% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on ATO. Weiss Ratings cut Atmos Energy from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 28th. Wall Street Zen raised Atmos Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, November 7th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Atmos Energy from $179.00 to $182.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered Atmos Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $198.00 to $180.00 in a report on Friday, September 11th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $201.00 target price on shares of Atmos Energy in a report on Friday, November 6th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $183.36.

Atmos Energy Stock Up 0.3%

Atmos Energy stock opened at $176.38 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.73. Atmos Energy Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $154.72 and a fifty-two week high of $192.51. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $165.63 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $174.44. The firm has a market cap of $29.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.73, a P/E/G ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.56.

Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 4th. The utilities provider reported $1.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.14 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $837.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $873.77 million. Atmos Energy had a return on equity of 9.63% and a net margin of 28.50%. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.07 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Atmos Energy Corporation will post 9.10 earnings per share for the current year.

Atmos Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 7th. Investors of record on Monday, November 23rd will be paid a dividend of $1.09 per share. This represents a $4.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 23rd. This is a positive change from Atmos Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. Atmos Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.00%.

Atmos Energy Profile

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.