Parkside Financial Bank & Trust Buys 302 Shares of Atmos Energy Co. (NYSE:ATO)

Parkside Financial Bank & Trust boosted its stake in Atmos Energy Co. (NYSE:ATO) by 187.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 463 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 302 shares during the quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust’s holdings in Atmos Energy were worth $54,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP boosted its stake in Atmos Energy by 984.6% in the 3rd quarter. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP now owns 282 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 256 shares during the period. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Atmos Energy by 107.0% in the 3rd quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 294 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 152 shares in the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Atmos Energy by 57.5% in the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 293 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 107 shares in the last quarter. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Atmos Energy in the 4th quarter valued at about $47,000. Finally, Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Atmos Energy in the 4th quarter valued at about $48,000. Institutional investors own 90.17% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Barclays raised their price target on Atmos Energy from $115.00 to $121.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 14th. UBS Group initiated coverage on Atmos Energy in a research note on Friday, April 12th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $124.00 price target on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com cut Atmos Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $124.33.

Insider Transactions at Atmos Energy

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

Atmos Energy Price Performance

Shares of Atmos Energy stock opened at $116.93 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.66. Atmos Energy Co. has a one year low of $101.00 and a one year high of $125.28. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $115.55 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $113.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 1.25.

Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 7th. The utilities provider reported $2.08 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.09 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $1.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 prior year, the business posted $1.91 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Atmos Energy Co. will post 6.59 EPS for the current year.

Atmos Energy Announces Dividend

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

About Atmos Energy

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.