Atmos Energy Corporation $ATO Shares Bought by Cooke & Bieler LP

Cooke & Bieler LP boosted its stake in shares of Atmos Energy Corporation (NYSE:ATO) by 9.3% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,011,409 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 86,472 shares during the quarter. Atmos Energy accounts for 1.6% of Cooke & Bieler LP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest position. Cooke & Bieler LP’s holdings in Atmos Energy were worth $155,868,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of ATO. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Atmos Energy by 28.8% in the 1st quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,158 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $334,000 after purchasing an additional 482 shares during the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp lifted its holdings in Atmos Energy by 2.9% in the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 34,705 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,348,000 after acquiring an additional 981 shares during the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL lifted its holdings in Atmos Energy by 8.4% in the second quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 1,970 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $304,000 after acquiring an additional 152 shares during the last quarter. Private Trust Co. NA lifted its holdings in Atmos Energy by 26.0% in the first quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 378 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $58,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LPL Financial LLC lifted its holdings in Atmos Energy by 20.6% in the first quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 109,772 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $16,969,000 after acquiring an additional 18,753 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.17% of the company’s stock.

Atmos Energy Price Performance

ATO opened at $171.76 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $169.84 and its 200 day moving average price is $161.53. Atmos Energy Corporation has a 12-month low of $136.05 and a 12-month high of $179.70. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The firm has a market cap of $27.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.59, a PEG ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.74.

Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $1.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.17 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $838.77 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $848.97 million. Atmos Energy had a return on equity of 9.00% and a net margin of 25.05%.During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.08 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Atmos Energy Corporation will post 7.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Atmos Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 25th were issued a dividend of $0.87 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 25th. This represents a $3.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. Atmos Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 47.80%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on ATO. Barclays set a $175.00 price target on Atmos Energy in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Atmos Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, August 17th. Argus set a $172.00 target price on shares of Atmos Energy in a research report on Thursday, September 18th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Atmos Energy from $167.00 to $181.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Finally, Bank of America restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $185.00 price objective (up from $182.00) on shares of Atmos Energy in a report on Thursday, October 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $170.44.

Atmos Energy Profile

Atmos Energy Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the regulated natural gas distribution, and pipeline and storage businesses in the United States. It operates through two segments, Distribution, and Pipeline and Storage. The Distribution segment is involved in the regulated natural gas distribution and related sales operations in eight states.