Kepler Cheuvreux Suisse SA Lowers Stake in Atmos Energy Corporation $ATO

Key Points

• Kepler Cheuvreux Suisse SA cut its Atmos Energy stake by 41.7% in the fourth quarter, selling 44,808 shares and leaving it with 62,677 shares worth about $10.5 million.
• Atmos Energy’s latest quarterly results beat expectations, with EPS of $3.47 versus the $3.37 estimate and revenue of $1.96 billion versus $1.94 billion projected.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $1.00 per share payable June 8, and analysts currently rate the stock Hold on average with a consensus target price of $182.11.

Kepler Cheuvreux Suisse SA trimmed its stake in Atmos Energy Corporation (NYSE:ATO - Free Report) by 41.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 62,677 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 44,808 shares during the quarter. Kepler Cheuvreux Suisse SA's holdings in Atmos Energy were worth $10,507,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Atmos Energy by 1.3% in the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its stake in shares of Atmos Energy by 3.4% in the third quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 10,965,840 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,872,162,000 after acquiring an additional 359,780 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Atmos Energy by 3.5% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,630,522 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,815,162,000 after acquiring an additional 356,942 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE grew its stake in shares of Atmos Energy by 2.3% in 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 acquiring an additional 84,786 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Atmos Energy by 0.6% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,099,360 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $529,216,000 after acquiring an additional 17,022 shares during the last quarter. 90.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on ATO shares. Weiss Ratings cut Atmos Energy from a "buy (a-)" rating to a "buy (b+)" rating in a research note on Thursday. Barclays boosted their price target on Atmos Energy from $167.00 to $184.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Atmos Energy from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Sunday. Truist Financial started coverage on Atmos Energy in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. They issued a "hold" rating and a $195.00 price target for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Atmos Energy from $197.00 to $195.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Atmos Energy currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $182.11.

Atmos Energy Stock Performance

NYSE:ATO opened at $180.96 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $185.86 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $176.87. Atmos Energy Corporation has a 52-week low of $149.98 and a 52-week high of $192.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 1.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $30.21 billion, a PE ratio of 22.23, a P/E/G ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.65.

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, 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 business had revenue of $1.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.94 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.03 earnings per share. Atmos Energy has set its FY 2026 guidance at 8.400-8.500 EPS. Analysts forecast that Atmos Energy Corporation will post 8.3 EPS for the current year.

Atmos Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 8th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 26th will be issued 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 is Tuesday, May 26th. Atmos Energy's payout ratio is currently 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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