Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. Has $704,000 Position in Atmos Energy Co. (NYSE:ATO)

Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Atmos Energy Co. (NYSE:ATO) by 27.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,034 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,289 shares during the quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd.’s holdings in Atmos Energy were worth $704,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Atmos Energy by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 603,270 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $69,920,000 after buying an additional 26,509 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Atmos Energy in the fourth quarter valued at about $137,757,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Atmos Energy by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 45,445 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,267,000 after purchasing an additional 1,518 shares in the last quarter. UBS Group AG grew its holdings in shares of Atmos Energy by 12.6% during the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 377,322 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $43,732,000 after purchasing an additional 42,182 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of Atmos Energy by 15.0% in the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 32,545 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,772,000 after buying an additional 4,236 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 90.17% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on ATO. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Atmos Energy from $132.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. StockNews.com raised shares of Atmos Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Atmos Energy from $134.00 to $144.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH assumed coverage on Atmos Energy in a research report on Monday, September 9th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $144.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Atmos Energy from $122.00 to $119.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 24th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Atmos Energy has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $134.71.

Atmos Energy Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:ATO opened at $136.56 on Friday. Atmos Energy Co. has a 1 year low of $101.00 and a 1 year high of $138.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 1.73 and a quick ratio of 1.57. The business’s 50-day moving average is $129.61 and its 200-day moving average is $121.00. The company has a market capitalization of $20.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.47, a P/E/G ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.68.

Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The utilities provider reported $1.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.05 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $701.55 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $924.75 million. Atmos Energy had a return on equity of 8.94% and a net margin of 25.09%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.94 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Atmos Energy Co. will post 6.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Atmos Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 9th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 26th were issued a $0.805 dividend. This represents a $3.22 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.36%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 26th. Atmos Energy’s payout ratio is 48.28%.

Atmos Energy Company 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.