Legal & General Group Plc Invests $276.56 Million in Atmos Energy Corporation $ATO

Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new stake in Atmos Energy Corporation (NYSE:ATO) in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 1,605,373 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $276,558,000. Legal & General Group Plc owned about 0.95% of Atmos Energy at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Garner Asset Management Corp bought a new position in Atmos Energy during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Atmos Energy in the second quarter worth $25,000. Kingdom Financial Group LLC. bought a new stake in Atmos Energy during the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in Atmos Energy by 627.3% during the second quarter. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC now owns 160 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 138 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Western Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Atmos Energy during the first quarter worth $34,000. 90.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ATO has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Atmos Energy from $196.00 to $198.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. Argus dropped their price objective on shares of Atmos Energy from $190.00 to $185.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 2nd. Truist Financial cut their target price on shares of Atmos Energy from $188.00 to $179.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 13th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Atmos Energy from $182.00 to $191.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on Atmos Energy in a research note on Monday, July 13th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $200.00 target price for the company. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $187.73.

Atmos Energy Stock Performance

ATO opened at $169.35 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $173.49 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $178.29. Atmos Energy Corporation has a 1-year low of $160.10 and a 1-year high of $192.51. The company has a market capitalization of $28.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.60. 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 (NYSE:ATO) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by $0.08. Atmos Energy had a return on equity of 9.67% and a net margin of 28.50%.The firm had revenue of $879.06 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $900.82 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.16 earnings per share. Atmos Energy has set its FY 2026 guidance at 8.400-8.500 EPS. Research analysts predict that Atmos Energy Corporation will post 8.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Atmos Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 24th will be issued a $1.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 24th. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. Atmos Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.56%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director William James Ware acquired 300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was bought at an average price of $167.59 per share, for a total transaction of $50,277.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 488 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $81,783.92. The trade was a 159.57% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate 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.