Bahl & Gaynor Inc. Increases Holdings in Atmos Energy Co. (NYSE:ATO)

Bahl & Gaynor Inc. lifted its position in shares of Atmos Energy Co. (NYSE:ATO) by 1.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 236,259 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,437 shares during the period. Bahl & Gaynor Inc.’s holdings in Atmos Energy were worth $27,382,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of ATO. AE Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Atmos Energy by 21.7% in the 3rd quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,742 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $290,000 after buying an additional 489 shares in the last quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC lifted its stake in Atmos Energy by 36.6% in the 3rd quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 3,822 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $405,000 after buying an additional 1,025 shares in the last quarter. Czech National Bank lifted its stake in Atmos Energy by 51.7% in the 3rd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 25,948 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,749,000 after buying an additional 8,844 shares in the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in Atmos Energy by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 134,158 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $14,211,000 after buying an additional 1,385 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Spirit of America Management Corp NY lifted its stake in Atmos Energy by 30.0% in the 3rd quarter. Spirit of America Management Corp NY now owns 2,600 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $275,000 after buying an additional 600 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.17% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Atmos Energy

In other news, Director Kim R. Cocklin sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.46, for a total transaction of $1,746,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 186,339 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,701,039.94. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ATO has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. StockNews.com raised Atmos Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 19th. UBS Group initiated coverage on Atmos Energy in a research note on Friday, April 12th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $124.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on Atmos Energy from $115.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Atmos Energy has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $124.33.

Atmos Energy Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of ATO stock traded down $1.24 on Friday, reaching $116.93. 733,068 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 822,753. The stock has a market cap of $17.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a quick ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $115.49 and a two-hundred day moving average of $113.93. Atmos Energy Co. has a 1-year low of $101.00 and a 1-year high of $125.28.

Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 7th. The utilities provider reported $2.08 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.09 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $1.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. Atmos Energy had a return on equity of 8.62% and a net margin of 23.43%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.91 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Atmos Energy Co. will post 6.59 EPS for the current year.

Atmos Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 26th were issued a dividend of $0.805 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 23rd. This represents a $3.22 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.75%. Atmos Energy’s payout ratio is 51.11%.

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.