StockNews.com Lowers Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) to Sell

StockNews.com cut shares of Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday.

A number of other research analysts have also commented on the stock. Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of Atmos Energy from $135.00 to $130.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 16th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Atmos Energy from $122.00 to $116.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 24th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Atmos Energy from $124.00 to $115.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 25th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of Atmos Energy from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $132.00 to $128.00 in a research report on Monday, August 28th. Finally, Mizuho decreased their target price on shares of Atmos Energy from $137.00 to $131.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $122.86.

Atmos Energy Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of ATO stock opened at $112.92 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a current ratio of 0.65. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $110.40 and its 200-day moving average is $114.88. The stock has a market cap of $16.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.42, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 0.65. Atmos Energy has a 52-week low of $101.00 and a 52-week high of $125.28.

Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 9th. The utilities provider reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.06. Atmos Energy had a net margin of 20.72% and a return on equity of 8.54%. The company had revenue of $587.64 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $959.12 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.51 EPS. Atmos Energy’s quarterly revenue was down 18.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Atmos Energy will post 6.49 EPS for the current year.

Atmos Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 11th. Investors of record on Monday, November 27th will be given a dividend of $0.805 per share. This is a positive change from Atmos Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 24th. This represents a $3.22 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.85%. Atmos Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 48.29%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Richard M. Thomas sold 1,750 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $114.20, for a total transaction of $199,850.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 2,650 shares in the company, valued at approximately $302,630. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, VP Richard M. Thomas sold 1,750 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $114.20, for a total transaction of $199,850.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 2,650 shares in the company, valued at approximately $302,630. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kim R. Cocklin sold 12,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $110.99, for a total transaction of $1,387,375.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 199,972 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,194,892.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Atmos Energy

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ATO. BlackRock Inc. lifted its stake in Atmos Energy by 31.8% in the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 17,992,930 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,093,298,000 after purchasing an additional 4,343,701 shares during the last quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich lifted its stake in Atmos Energy by 98,059.5% in the 2nd quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 1,554,847 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $180,891,000 after purchasing an additional 1,553,263 shares during the last quarter. Perpetual Ltd bought a new position in shares of Atmos Energy during the first quarter valued at $127,941,000. Zimmer Partners LP bought a new position in shares of Atmos Energy during the first quarter valued at $104,567,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Atmos Energy by 3.3% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,962,224 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,026,815,000 after acquiring an additional 547,260 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.98% of the company’s stock.

About Atmos Energy

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.