Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) Upgraded by Wall Street Zen to Hold Rating

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday.

Several other research firms have also recently commented on ATO. Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of Atmos Energy from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 2nd. Morgan Stanley set a $192.00 price objective on Atmos Energy in a report on Friday, February 20th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Atmos Energy from $159.00 to $174.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. Citigroup upped their target price on Atmos Energy from $163.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Atmos Energy in a research report on Monday, December 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Atmos Energy has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $175.67.

Atmos Energy Price Performance

Atmos Energy stock opened at $185.34 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $30.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.07, a P/E/G ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 0.74. Atmos Energy has a 12-month low of $141.59 and a 12-month high of $187.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 1.13 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $173.37 and its two-hundred day moving average is $171.65.

Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 3rd. The utilities provider reported $2.44 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.41 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $1.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.21 billion. Atmos Energy had a net margin of 25.67% and a return on equity of 9.20%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.23 earnings per share. Atmos Energy has set its FY 2026 guidance at 8.150-8.350 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Atmos Energy will post 7.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Atmos Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 9th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 23rd will be issued a $1.00 dividend. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 23rd. Atmos Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 51.95%.

Institutional Trading of Atmos Energy

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Atmos Energy by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,032,554 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,525,687,000 after buying an additional 276,485 shares during the period. Capital International Investors grew its position in Atmos Energy by 8.5% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 11,893,826 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,993,968,000 after acquiring an additional 927,986 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its stake in Atmos Energy by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,786,358 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,808,117,000 after acquiring an additional 155,836 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Atmos Energy by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,214,985 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $703,824,000 after purchasing an additional 78,438 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in shares of Atmos Energy by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 3,737,053 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $638,102,000 after purchasing an additional 84,786 shares during the period. 90.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Atmos Energy Company Profile

Atmos Energy Corporation (NYSE: ATO) is a U.S.-based natural-gas utility that primarily focuses on the regulated distribution of natural gas. Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, the company operates through local distribution systems to deliver natural gas to residential, commercial, industrial and electric generation customers. Atmos’s core activities include pipeline operations, gas distribution, system maintenance and reliability programs designed to ensure safe and continuous service to its customers.

The company’s services encompass gas delivery, system integrity and maintenance, storage and transmission connections, and customer-facing programs such as billing, conservation initiatives and energy-efficiency offerings.