Teacher Retirement System of Texas Acquires 21,267 Shares of Atmos Energy Corporation (NYSE:ATO)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas boosted its stake in Atmos Energy Corporation (NYSE:ATO - Free Report) by 1,464.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 22,719 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 21,267 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas' holdings in Atmos Energy were worth $3,512,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Atmos Energy by 191.2% in the first quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 166 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 109 shares during the period. Revisor Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Atmos Energy by 64.1% during the first quarter. Revisor Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,216 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $497,000 after acquiring an additional 1,256 shares in the last quarter. Private Trust Co. NA increased its position in shares of Atmos Energy by 26.0% during the first quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 378 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $58,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY increased its position in shares of Atmos Energy by 45.9% during the first quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY now owns 51,705 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $7,993,000 after acquiring an additional 16,277 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NovaPoint Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Atmos Energy by 4.2% during the first quarter. NovaPoint Capital LLC now owns 5,997 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $927,000 after acquiring an additional 240 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.17% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on ATO. Morgan Stanley set a $156.00 price objective on shares of Atmos Energy and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. Argus raised shares of Atmos Energy to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Atmos Energy from $164.00 to $166.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Atmos Energy in a research note on Monday, March 31st. They issued a "peer perform" rating on the stock. Finally, Mizuho cut shares of Atmos Energy from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their target price for the company from $165.00 to $164.00 in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Atmos Energy presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $156.05.

Insider Activity at Atmos Energy

In other news, Director Kim R. Cocklin sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.98, for a total value of $2,264,700.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 172,632 shares of the company's stock, valued at $26,063,979.36. This represents a 7.99% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.48% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Atmos Energy Price Performance

NYSE ATO traded up $1.16 on Wednesday, hitting $153.15. The stock had a trading volume of 680,316 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,011,368. Atmos Energy Corporation has a 52-week low of $114.64 and a 52-week high of $167.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a current ratio of 1.33. The company has a market capitalization of $24.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.70. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $155.24 and a 200-day moving average of $150.08.

Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $3.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.92 by $0.11. Atmos Energy had a net margin of 25.35% and a return on equity of 9.05%. The business had revenue of $1.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.82 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.85 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 18.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Atmos Energy Corporation will post 7.18 EPS for the current year.

Atmos Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 9th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 27th were issued a $0.87 dividend. This represents a $3.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.27%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 27th. Atmos Energy's payout ratio is 48.33%.

About Atmos Energy

Atmos Energy Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the regulated natural gas distribution, and pipeline and storage businesses in the United States. It operates through two segments, Distribution, and Pipeline and Storage. The Distribution segment is involved in the regulated natural gas distribution and related sales operations in eight states.