First National Advisers LLC Decreases Position in Atmos Energy Corporation $ATO

First National Advisers LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Atmos Energy Corporation (NYSE:ATO) by 28.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 15,167 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 5,935 shares during the quarter. First National Advisers LLC’s holdings in Atmos Energy were worth $2,590,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Atmos Energy during the fourth quarter worth about $233,000. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC boosted its stake in Atmos Energy by 10.8% in the 1st quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 3,168 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $490,000 after purchasing an additional 308 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its position in Atmos Energy by 8.3% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 17,312 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,676,000 after purchasing an additional 1,331 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in Atmos Energy by 8.5% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 3,117 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $482,000 after purchasing an additional 245 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Woodline Partners LP raised its holdings in shares of Atmos Energy by 43.9% in the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 13,410 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,073,000 after buying an additional 4,088 shares during the last quarter. 90.17% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Atmos Energy from $159.00 to $174.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “equal weight” rating and set a $172.00 price target (down previously from $182.00) on shares of Atmos Energy in a research note on Tuesday, December 16th. Bank of America restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $185.00 price objective (up from $182.00) on shares of Atmos Energy in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Mizuho upped their target price on Atmos Energy from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 2nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Atmos Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, December 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $173.22.

Atmos Energy Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of ATO stock opened at $170.37 on Friday. Atmos Energy Corporation has a twelve month low of $138.77 and a twelve month high of $180.65. The stock has a market cap of $27.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.75, a P/E/G ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 0.77. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $170.69 and a 200 day moving average of $167.22. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66.

Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 14th. The utilities provider reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter. The business had revenue of $737.48 million for the quarter. Atmos Energy had a net margin of 25.49% and a return on equity of 9.07%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Atmos Energy Corporation will post 7.18 EPS for the current year.

Atmos Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 24th were issued a $1.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 24th. This is a positive change from Atmos Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.87. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.3%. Atmos Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 53.40%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Atmos Energy

In other news, Director Sean Donohue sold 450 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.15, for a total transaction of $77,017.50. Following the sale, the director directly owned 877 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $150,098.55. This represents a 33.91% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 0.43% of the company’s stock.

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.