Atmos Energy Corporation $ATO Shares Sold by Barclays PLC

Key Points

• Barclays PLC cut its stake in Atmos Energy by 21.1% in Q3, selling 93,718 shares and retaining 350,004 shares worth about $59.8 million.
• Other large moves include Norges Bank initiating a ~$282.5 million position and Bank of America boosting its stake by 94.9% to ~3.65 million shares (~$562.9 million), with institutional investors owning about 90.17% of the stock.
• Atmos beat quarterly EPS expectations ($2.44 vs. $2.41), set FY2026 guidance of $8.15–$8.35, pays a $1.00 quarterly dividend (≈2.2% yield), and carries a consensus analyst rating of "Hold" with a $175.67 price target.

Barclays PLC lessened its holdings in shares of Atmos Energy Corporation (NYSE:ATO - Free Report) by 21.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 350,004 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 93,718 shares during the period. Barclays PLC owned 0.22% of Atmos Energy worth $59,763,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in ATO. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Atmos Energy in the second quarter worth $282,487,000. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in shares of Atmos Energy by 94.9% in 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 acquiring an additional 1,778,653 shares in the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC increased its stake in shares of Atmos Energy by 220.1% during the second quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 720,956 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $111,107,000 after acquiring an additional 495,712 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in shares of Atmos Energy by 23.6% during the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,899,283 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $292,699,000 after acquiring an additional 362,894 shares during the period. Finally, Mizuho Markets Americas LLC bought a new stake in Atmos Energy during the third quarter worth approximately $48,798,000. 90.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently weighed in on ATO shares. Mizuho raised their target price on Atmos Energy from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 2nd. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Atmos Energy to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 18th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Atmos Energy from $165.00 to $167.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Atmos Energy from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Atmos Energy from $163.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $175.67.

Atmos Energy Price Performance

NYSE ATO opened at $185.14 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. Atmos Energy Corporation has a 1 year low of $141.59 and a 1 year high of $187.98. The company has a market cap of $30.63 billion, a PE ratio of 24.04, a PEG ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 0.74. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $173.70 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $171.82.

Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 3rd. The utilities provider reported $2.44 EPS 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 company had revenue of $1.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.21 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.23 earnings per share. Atmos Energy has set its FY 2026 guidance at 8.150-8.350 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Atmos Energy Corporation will post 7.18 EPS for the current year.

Atmos Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 9th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 23rd were paid a dividend of $1.00 per share. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 23rd. Atmos Energy's payout ratio is 51.95%.

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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