HighTower Advisors LLC Sells 3,513 Shares of Atmos Energy Corporation $ATO

HighTower Advisors LLC decreased its stake in shares of Atmos Energy Corporation (NYSE:ATO) by 5.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 59,496 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 3,513 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Atmos Energy were worth $9,973,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ATO. Brighton Jones LLC bought a new position in Atmos Energy in the fourth quarter worth approximately $233,000. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC raised its position in Atmos Energy by 10.8% in the first quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 3,168 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $490,000 after acquiring an additional 308 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its position in Atmos Energy by 8.3% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 17,312 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,676,000 after acquiring an additional 1,331 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC raised its position in Atmos Energy by 8.5% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 3,117 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $482,000 after acquiring an additional 245 shares during the period. Finally, Woodline Partners LP raised its position in Atmos Energy by 43.9% in the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 13,410 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,073,000 after acquiring an additional 4,088 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 90.17% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley set a $183.00 price objective on shares of Atmos Energy in a research report on Thursday. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Atmos Energy from $182.00 to $191.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Truist Financial reduced 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. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Atmos Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Atmos Energy from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $181.50.

Atmos Energy Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ATO opened at $177.79 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 1.00. The company has a market cap of $29.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.84, a P/E/G ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.65. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $184.37 and its two-hundred day moving average is $177.22. Atmos Energy Corporation has a 52-week low of $149.98 and a 52-week high of $192.51.

Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The utilities provider reported $3.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.37 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $1.96 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.94 billion. Atmos Energy had a net margin of 27.58% and a return on equity of 9.59%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.03 EPS. Atmos Energy has set its FY 2026 guidance at 8.400-8.500 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Atmos Energy Corporation will post 8.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Atmos Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 8th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 26th will be paid a $1.00 dividend. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 26th. Atmos Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.