Mather Group LLC. Acquires 2,196 Shares of Atmos Energy Co. (NYSE:ATO)

Mather Group LLC. boosted its stake in shares of Atmos Energy Co. (NYSE:ATO) by 2.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 111,176 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,196 shares during the period. Mather Group LLC. owned 0.07% of Atmos Energy worth $12,885,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. AE Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Atmos Energy by 21.7% during the third quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,742 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $290,000 after purchasing an additional 489 shares in the last quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC raised its holdings in shares of Atmos Energy by 36.6% during the third quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 3,822 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $405,000 after purchasing an additional 1,025 shares during the last quarter. Czech National Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Atmos Energy by 51.7% in the 3rd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 25,948 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,749,000 after buying an additional 8,844 shares during the period. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. raised its position in Atmos Energy by 1.0% during the third quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 134,158 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $14,211,000 after acquiring an additional 1,385 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bfsg LLC lifted its holdings in Atmos Energy by 2.5% in the third quarter. Bfsg LLC now owns 11,110 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,177,000 after acquiring an additional 275 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 90.17% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Atmos Energy news, Director Kim R. Cocklin sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.46, for a total transaction of $1,746,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 186,339 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,701,039.94. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Atmos Energy from $115.00 to $121.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Atmos Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday. Finally, UBS Group assumed coverage on Atmos Energy in a report on Friday, April 12th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $124.00 price objective on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $124.33.

Atmos Energy Stock Up 0.9 %

NYSE:ATO traded up $1.01 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $117.94. 50,076 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 813,214. The company has a current ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. Atmos Energy Co. has a fifty-two week low of $101.00 and a fifty-two week high of $125.28. The company has a market capitalization of $17.79 billion, a PE ratio of 18.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $115.55 and a 200 day simple moving average of $114.01.

Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The utilities provider reported $2.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.09 by ($0.01). Atmos Energy had a return on equity of 8.62% and a net margin of 23.43%. The business had revenue of $1.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.91 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Atmos Energy Co. will post 6.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Atmos Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 11th. Investors of record on Monday, February 26th were paid a $0.805 dividend. This represents a $3.22 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 23rd. Atmos Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 51.11%.

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.