Cetera Trust Company N.A Makes New $64,000 Investment in Atmos Energy Co. (NYSE:ATO)

Cetera Trust Company N.A bought a new stake in shares of Atmos Energy Co. (NYSE:ATO) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 550 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $64,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. CWM LLC boosted its stake in shares of Atmos Energy by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. CWM LLC now owns 4,491 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $521,000 after buying an additional 228 shares during the last quarter. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Atmos Energy during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Atmos Energy by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 13,201 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,530,000 after buying an additional 407 shares during the last quarter. abrdn plc boosted its stake in shares of Atmos Energy by 94.6% during the 4th quarter. abrdn plc now owns 80,845 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $9,370,000 after buying an additional 39,303 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cooke & Bieler LP boosted its stake in shares of Atmos Energy by 5.9% during the 4th quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 1,347,311 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $156,153,000 after buying an additional 74,654 shares during the last quarter. 90.17% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Atmos Energy

In related news, Director Kim R. Cocklin sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director now owns 186,339 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,701,039.94. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Atmos Energy Price Performance

Shares of ATO opened at $118.08 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a current ratio of 1.44. Atmos Energy Co. has a one year low of $101.00 and a one year high of $125.28. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $115.18 and its 200-day moving average is $113.80.

Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 business had revenue of $1.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. Atmos Energy had a net margin of 23.43% and a return on equity of 8.62%. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.91 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Atmos Energy Co. will post 6.59 EPS for the current year.

Atmos Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 11th. Investors of record on Monday, February 26th were paid a dividend of $0.805 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 23rd. This represents a $3.22 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.73%. Atmos Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.