Atmos Energy Corporation $ATO Shares Sold by Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS lowered its stake in shares of Atmos Energy Corporation (NYSE:ATO - Free Report) by 3.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 301,973 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 9,240 shares during the period. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS owned about 0.18% of Atmos Energy worth $55,780,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Atmos Energy by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,032,554 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $3,525,687,000 after acquiring an additional 276,485 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its stake in Atmos Energy by 8.5% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 11,893,826 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,993,968,000 after purchasing an additional 927,986 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in Atmos Energy by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,786,358 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,808,117,000 after purchasing an additional 155,836 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Atmos Energy by 1.9% during the fourth 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 last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in Atmos Energy by 2.3% during the third 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 last quarter. 90.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. TD Cowen upped their target price on Atmos Energy from $193.00 to $196.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, May 15th. Wall Street Zen raised Atmos Energy from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, July 4th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Atmos Energy from $167.00 to $184.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Atmos Energy from a "buy (b+)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $190.00 price target on shares of Atmos Energy in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $183.90.

Atmos Energy Price Performance

Atmos Energy stock traded up $1.50 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $176.22. 527,259 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,242,316. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $174.74 and its 200-day simple moving average is $177.01. Atmos Energy Corporation has a 1 year low of $152.80 and a 1 year high of $192.51. The company has a market capitalization of $29.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.65, a P/E/G ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 1.00.

Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The utilities provider reported $3.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.37 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $1.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.94 billion. Atmos Energy had a net margin of 27.58% and a return on equity of 9.59%. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.03 EPS. Atmos Energy has set its FY 2026 guidance at 8.400-8.500 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Atmos Energy Corporation will post 8.45 EPS for the current year.

Atmos Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 8th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 26th were given a dividend of $1.00 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 26th. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.3%. Atmos Energy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 49.14%.

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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