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

StockNews.com lowered shares of Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report published on Saturday morning.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently commented on ATO. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Atmos Energy from $122.00 to $119.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 24th. UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of Atmos Energy in a research note on Friday, April 12th. They set a neutral rating and a $124.00 price objective for the company. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Atmos Energy from $121.00 to $129.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a report on Tuesday, May 14th. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Atmos Energy from $133.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Monday, May 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Atmos Energy from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating and increased their price target for the stock from $130.00 to $132.00 in a research note on Tuesday, May 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $128.67.

Atmos Energy Price Performance

NYSE:ATO opened at $128.22 on Friday. Atmos Energy has a 12-month low of $101.00 and a 12-month high of $128.49. The firm has a market cap of $19.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.67. The company’s 50-day moving average is $117.81 and its two-hundred day moving average is $116.32. The company has a current ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65.

Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 8th. The utilities provider reported $2.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.62 by $0.23. The business had revenue of $1.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.54 billion. Atmos Energy had a net margin of 24.65% and a return on equity of 9.01%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.48 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Atmos Energy will post 6.78 EPS for the current year.

Atmos Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 28th were given a dividend of $0.805 per share. This represents a $3.22 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 24th. Atmos Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.28%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Atmos Energy

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Atmos Energy

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Atmos Energy by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 19,472,036 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,314,641,000 after acquiring an additional 127,199 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Atmos Energy by 11.6% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,032,032 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,162,713,000 after purchasing an additional 1,041,608 shares in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Atmos Energy by 5.6% in the first quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 1,575,191 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $187,243,000 after purchasing an additional 83,661 shares during the period. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main grew its holdings in 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 valued at $172,595,000 after purchasing an additional 50,209 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in Atmos Energy by 19.6% during the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,484,105 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $172,008,000 after buying an additional 242,722 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.17% 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.