SteelPeak Wealth LLC Boosts Stake in Atmos Energy Co. (NYSE:ATO)

SteelPeak Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Atmos Energy Co. (NYSE:ATO) by 99.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,814 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,367 shares during the quarter. SteelPeak Wealth LLC’s holdings in Atmos Energy were worth $1,999,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Atmos Energy by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 19,347,371 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,049,467,000 after purchasing an additional 538,578 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of Atmos Energy by 11.6% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,032,032 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,162,713,000 after purchasing an additional 1,041,608 shares during the last quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main raised its position in shares of Atmos Energy by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 1,489,174 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $172,595,000 after purchasing an additional 50,209 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in shares of Atmos Energy by 19.6% during the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,484,105 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $172,008,000 after purchasing an additional 242,722 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Perpetual Ltd raised its holdings in Atmos Energy by 46.2% in the 1st quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 1,411,697 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $167,808,000 after acquiring an additional 446,292 shares during the last quarter. 90.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Atmos Energy

In other Atmos Energy news, Director Diana J. Walters sold 400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.00, for a total value of $47,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 3,551 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $419,018. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on ATO shares. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Atmos Energy from $121.00 to $129.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 14th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Atmos Energy from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $130.00 to $132.00 in a report on Tuesday, May 14th. UBS Group started coverage on shares of Atmos Energy in a report on Friday, April 12th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $124.00 price objective for the company. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Atmos Energy from $133.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Atmos Energy from $122.00 to $119.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $128.67.

Atmos Energy Stock Performance

NYSE:ATO opened at $116.65 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.49, a PEG ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $116.76 and a 200 day moving average price of $115.58. Atmos Energy Co. has a fifty-two week low of $101.00 and a fifty-two week high of $125.28.

Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 8th. The utilities provider reported $2.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.62 by $0.23. The firm had revenue of $1.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.54 billion. Atmos Energy had a net margin of 24.65% and a return on equity of 9.01%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.48 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Atmos Energy Co. will post 6.78 EPS for the current year.

Atmos Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 28th were given a $0.805 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 24th. This represents a $3.22 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.76%. Atmos Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 48.28%.

Atmos Energy Profile

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.