1,876 Shares in Atmos Energy Co. (NYSE:ATO) Bought by Transcend Capital Advisors LLC

Transcend Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Atmos Energy Co. (NYSE:ATO) in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 1,876 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $219,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ATO. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. raised its stake in shares of Atmos Energy by 281.3% during the fourth quarter. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. now owns 562,622 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $65,208,000 after acquiring an additional 415,054 shares during the last quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main grew its holdings in shares of Atmos Energy by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 1,489,174 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $172,595,000 after acquiring an additional 50,209 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Atmos Energy by 40.7% in the 4th quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 24,696 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,862,000 after acquiring an additional 7,141 shares in the last quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co lifted its stake in shares of Atmos Energy by 3.9% in the 1st quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 176,224 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $20,957,000 after purchasing an additional 6,641 shares during the period. Finally, Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Atmos Energy during the first quarter valued at approximately $1,876,000. 90.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ATO has been the topic of a number of research reports. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Atmos Energy from $121.00 to $129.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 14th. Mizuho raised their price target on Atmos Energy from $133.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 13th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Atmos Energy from $122.00 to $119.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 24th. UBS Group began coverage on shares of Atmos Energy in a research note on Friday, April 12th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $124.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Atmos Energy from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the company from $130.00 to $132.00 in a research report on Tuesday, May 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Atmos Energy has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $128.67.

Insider Buying and Selling at Atmos Energy

In other news, Director Diana J. Walters sold 400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.00, for a total value of $47,200.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 3,551 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $419,018. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Atmos Energy Stock Performance

Shares of ATO stock traded down $2.69 on Monday, reaching $127.30. The stock had a trading volume of 440,433 shares, compared to its average volume of 907,967. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.36. Atmos Energy Co. has a 1 year low of $101.00 and a 1 year high of $132.24. The stock has a market cap of $19.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $118.70 and a 200 day simple moving average of $116.64.

Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The utilities provider reported $2.85 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.62 by $0.23. The firm had revenue of $1.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.54 billion. Atmos Energy had a net margin of 24.65% and a return on equity of 9.01%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.48 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Atmos Energy Co. will post 6.77 EPS for the current year.

Atmos Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 28th were issued a $0.805 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 24th. This represents a $3.22 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.53%. Atmos Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 48.28%.

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.