JPMorgan Chase & Co. Increases Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) Price Target to $198.00

Key Points

• JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its price target on Atmos Energy from $196 to $198 and kept an overweight rating, implying about 9.66% upside from the prior close.
• Other analysts remain mixed on the stock: Wells Fargo started coverage with a $200 target and overweight rating, while several firms trimmed targets; overall, MarketBeat shows an average rating of Hold with a $186.33 average price target.
• Atmos Energy shares traded at $180.56 on Tuesday, and the company recently beat quarterly earnings estimates, reporting $3.47 EPS versus $3.37 expected on revenue of $1.96 billion.

Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO - Get Free Report) had its price target raised by research analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $196.00 to $198.00 in a note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an "overweight" rating on the utilities provider's stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s price objective points to a potential upside of 9.66% from the stock's previous close.

ATO has been the subject of several other research reports. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on shares of Atmos Energy in a research note on Monday. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $200.00 target price for the company. Argus cut their price target on shares of Atmos Energy from $190.00 to $185.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. Mizuho cut their price target on shares of Atmos Energy from $192.00 to $184.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 29th. Morgan Stanley set a $190.00 price objective on shares of Atmos Energy in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered Atmos Energy from a "buy (b+)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $186.33.

Atmos Energy Stock Performance

Shares of Atmos Energy stock traded up $1.06 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $180.56. 45,852 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,316,081. Atmos Energy has a 1 year low of $152.80 and a 1 year high of $192.51. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. The business has a 50-day moving average of $174.53 and a 200-day moving average of $177.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $30.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.13, a P/E/G ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.60.

Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The utilities provider reported $3.47 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.37 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $1.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 firm posted $3.03 EPS. Atmos Energy has set its FY 2026 guidance at 8.400-8.500 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Atmos Energy will post 8.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Atmos Energy

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ATO. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Atmos Energy during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $331,426,000. Bank of America Corp DE grew its holdings in shares of Atmos Energy by 94.9% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 3,652,267 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $562,851,000 after acquiring an additional 1,778,653 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its holdings in shares of Atmos Energy by 26,269.9% in the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,033,701 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $173,279,000 after acquiring an additional 1,029,781 shares during the period. 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. Finally, PFA Pension Forsikringsaktieselskab purchased a new position in Atmos Energy in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $107,729,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.17% of the company's stock.

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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