Atmos Energy Corporation $ATO Shares Purchased by PNC Financial Services Group Inc.

Key Points

• PNC Financial Services Group increased its stake in Atmos Energy by 1.3% in Q1, buying 11,318 additional shares and bringing its holding to 886,291 shares worth about $163.7 million.
• Atmos Energy’s stock has a mixed Wall Street outlook: analysts currently have a Hold consensus rating, though several firms recently raised price targets and issued Overweight/Buy views.
• The utility reported strong quarterly results, topping EPS and revenue estimates, and it also paid a quarterly dividend of $1.00 per share, equal to a 2.2% annualized yield.

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Atmos Energy Corporation (NYSE:ATO - Free Report) by 1.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 886,291 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 11,318 shares during the quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. owned about 0.54% of Atmos Energy worth $163,716,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Garner Asset Management Corp bought a new stake in Atmos Energy during the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Atmos Energy by 85.9% in the fourth quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 158 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 73 shares during the period. Kingdom Financial Group LLC. bought a new position in Atmos Energy during the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC raised its position in Atmos Energy by 270.2% in the fourth quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC now owns 174 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 127 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Elevated Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Atmos Energy in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. 90.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Atmos Energy from $196.00 to $198.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Atmos Energy from a "buy (b+)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Atmos Energy from $182.00 to $191.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on Atmos Energy in a research note on Monday, July 13th. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $200.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $196.00 price target on shares of Atmos Energy in a report on Wednesday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $186.92.

Atmos Energy Stock Up 2.0%

Atmos Energy stock opened at $178.47 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.89. Atmos Energy Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $154.23 and a fifty-two week high of $192.51. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $173.76 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $177.60. The firm has a market cap of $29.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.93, a P/E/G ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.60.

Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The utilities provider reported $3.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.37 by $0.10. Atmos Energy had a return on equity of 9.59% and a net margin of 27.58%.The company had revenue of $1.96 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.94 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.03 earnings per share. Atmos Energy has set its FY 2026 guidance at 8.400-8.500 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Atmos Energy Corporation will post 8.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Atmos Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 8th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 26th were given a dividend of $1.00 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 26th. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. Atmos Energy's dividend payout ratio is currently 49.14%.

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.

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