Atmos Energy Co. (NYSE:ATO) Shares Acquired by LRI Investments LLC

LRI Investments LLC boosted its position in Atmos Energy Co. (NYSE:ATO) by 1,558.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,725 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,621 shares during the quarter. LRI Investments LLC’s holdings in Atmos Energy were worth $201,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on ATO. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Atmos Energy from $122.00 to $119.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 24th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Atmos Energy from $121.00 to $129.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 14th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Atmos Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. 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. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Atmos Energy from $134.00 to $144.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $133.17.

Atmos Energy Stock Performance

ATO opened at $130.09 on Friday. 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 $19.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.50, a P/E/G ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.67. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $122.89 and its 200 day simple moving average is $118.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 1.22.

Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The utilities provider reported $1.08 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.05 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $701.55 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $924.75 million. Atmos Energy had a return on equity of 9.01% and a net margin of 24.65%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.94 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Atmos Energy Co. will post 6.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Atmos Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 9th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 26th will be given a dividend of $0.805 per share. This represents a $3.22 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.48%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 26th. Atmos Energy’s 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.