Rakuten Investment Management Inc. Invests $4.51 Million in Atmos Energy Corporation $ATO

Rakuten Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in Atmos Energy Corporation (NYSE:ATO) in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 26,415 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $4,510,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. IFP Advisors Inc grew its stake in Atmos Energy by 3.2% during the 2nd quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 2,086 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $325,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB lifted its stake in Atmos Energy by 30.4% in the 3rd quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 279 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Financial Network Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Atmos Energy by 8.9% during the 3rd quarter. Financial Network Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 868 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $148,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Atmos Energy by 24.0% in the second quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 372 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $57,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LRI Investments LLC grew its position in shares of Atmos Energy by 6.6% in the second quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 1,181 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $182,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. 90.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on ATO shares. TD Cowen began coverage on Atmos Energy in a research report on Wednesday, October 15th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Mizuho raised their target price on Atmos Energy from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 2nd. Bank of America reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $185.00 price target (up previously from $182.00) on shares of Atmos Energy in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Atmos Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, December 27th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Atmos Energy from $159.00 to $174.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $174.11.

Atmos Energy Price Performance

NYSE:ATO opened at $165.01 on Friday. Atmos Energy Corporation has a 52 week low of $138.77 and a 52 week high of $180.65. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $169.91 and its two-hundred day moving average is $167.66. The company has a market capitalization of $26.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.03, a P/E/G ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66.

Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 14th. The utilities provider reported $1.04 earnings per share for the quarter. The business had revenue of $737.48 million during the quarter. Atmos Energy had a return on equity of 9.07% and a net margin of 25.49%. Equities analysts expect that Atmos Energy Corporation will post 7.18 EPS for the current year.

Atmos Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 24th were given a dividend of $1.00 per share. This is a boost from Atmos Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.87. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 24th. Atmos Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 53.40%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Sean Donohue sold 450 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.15, for a total value of $77,017.50. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 877 shares in the company, valued at approximately $150,098.55. This represents a 33.91% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.43% of the company’s stock.

Atmos Energy Profile

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.