Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) Price Target Lowered to $195.00 at Morgan Stanley

Key Points

• Morgan Stanley lowered its price target on Atmos Energy to $195 (from $197) and maintained an "equal weight" rating, implying roughly a 6.15% upside from the prior close.
• Analyst sentiment is mixed but leans toward Hold: MarketBeat's consensus rating is Hold with an average price target of $181.11, and ATO traded down about 1.4% to $183.71 on the report.
• Institutional ownership is high (~90%) with large recent purchases by Norges Bank, Bank of America and others, and Atmos posted a slight quarterly EPS beat and set FY2026 guidance of 8.15–8.35 EPS.

Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO - Get Free Report) had its price target dropped by equities research analysts at Morgan Stanley from $197.00 to $195.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm presently has an "equal weight" rating on the utilities provider's stock. Morgan Stanley's price target suggests a potential upside of 6.15% from the stock's previous close.

ATO has been the topic of several other research reports. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Atmos Energy from $167.00 to $184.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. Truist Financial began coverage on shares of Atmos Energy in a report on Tuesday. They set a "hold" rating and a $195.00 price objective on the stock. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Atmos Energy from a "buy (b+)" rating to a "buy (a-)" rating in a research note on Thursday. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Atmos Energy from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, March 7th. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Atmos Energy from $163.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $181.11.

Atmos Energy Stock Down 1.4%

ATO traded down $2.52 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $183.71. 84,772 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,237,147. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The business's 50 day moving average is $184.41 and its two-hundred day moving average is $176.09. Atmos Energy has a fifty-two week low of $149.98 and a fifty-two week high of $192.51. The stock has a market cap of $30.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.88, a PEG ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 0.69.

Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 3rd. The utilities provider reported $2.44 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.41 by $0.03. Atmos Energy had a net margin of 25.67% and a return on equity of 9.20%. The firm had revenue of $1.34 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.21 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.23 earnings per share. Atmos Energy has set its FY 2026 guidance at 8.150-8.350 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Atmos Energy will post 8.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Atmos Energy

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in Atmos Energy during the fourth quarter valued at about $331,426,000. Bank of America Corp DE grew its position in Atmos Energy by 94.9% during the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 3,652,267 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $562,851,000 after buying an additional 1,778,653 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its position in Atmos Energy by 26,269.9% during the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,033,701 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $173,279,000 after buying an additional 1,029,781 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 buying an additional 927,986 shares during the period. Finally, PFA Pension Forsikringsaktieselskab bought a new position in Atmos Energy during the fourth quarter valued at about $107,729,000. Institutional investors own 90.17% of the company's stock.

About Atmos Energy

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.

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