Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Boosts Stake in Atmos Energy Corporation $ATO

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund grew its position in shares of Atmos Energy Corporation (NYSE:ATO) by 19.1% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 49,006 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 7,842 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Atmos Energy were worth $9,052,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Compound Planning Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Atmos Energy by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Compound Planning Inc. now owns 1,654 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $277,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC lifted its holdings in Atmos Energy by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 1,579 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $265,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the period. MGO One Seven LLC boosted its position in Atmos Energy by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. MGO One Seven LLC now owns 1,514 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $254,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC boosted its position in Atmos Energy by 39.1% in the first quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 235 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Horizon Investments LLC grew its stake in Atmos Energy by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Horizon Investments LLC now owns 5,439 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $912,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.17% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on ATO. Argus decreased their target price on Atmos Energy from $190.00 to $185.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 2nd. Truist Financial cut their price target on shares of Atmos Energy from $195.00 to $187.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 18th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Atmos Energy from $184.00 to $183.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Atmos Energy from $193.00 to $196.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $190.00 price objective on shares of Atmos Energy in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Atmos Energy has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $186.33.

Atmos Energy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ATO opened at $177.78 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $174.08 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $177.35. Atmos Energy Corporation has a 1-year low of $153.94 and a 1-year high of $192.51. The firm has a market cap of $29.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65.

Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The utilities provider reported $3.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.37 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $1.96 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.94 billion. Atmos Energy had a return on equity of 9.59% and a net margin of 27.58%.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. Analysts anticipate that Atmos Energy Corporation will post 8.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Atmos Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 8th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 26th were paid a $1.00 dividend. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 26th. Atmos Energy’s payout ratio is currently 49.14%.

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.