Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd Buys 1,345 Shares of Atmos Energy Co. (NYSE:ATO)

Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd raised its stake in shares of Atmos Energy Co. (NYSE:ATO) by 11,208.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,357 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,345 shares during the quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd’s holdings in Atmos Energy were worth $189,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Atmos Energy by 10.8% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 13,745,352 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,906,618,000 after acquiring an additional 1,341,640 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Atmos Energy in the fourth quarter valued at about $112,002,000. Nilsine Partners LLC bought a new stake in Atmos Energy in the fourth quarter valued at about $76,360,000. State Street Corp increased its stake in Atmos Energy by 3.5% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,800,610 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,498,153,000 after acquiring an additional 362,594 shares during the period. Finally, Benjamin Edwards Inc. increased its stake in Atmos Energy by 2,212.0% in the third quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 291,572 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $40,446,000 after acquiring an additional 278,961 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 90.17% of the company’s stock.

Atmos Energy Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE ATO opened at $148.72 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $146.29 and its 200 day simple moving average is $142.63. Atmos Energy Co. has a fifty-two week low of $110.97 and a fifty-two week high of $154.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.19, a P/E/G ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 1.56 and a quick ratio of 1.43.

Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The utilities provider reported $2.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.20 by $0.03. Atmos Energy had a net margin of 25.90% and a return on equity of 8.89%. On average, analysts predict that Atmos Energy Co. will post 7.18 EPS for the current year.

Atmos Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th were issued a $0.87 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $3.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.34%. Atmos Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 49.57%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ATO has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. StockNews.com lowered shares of Atmos Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Atmos Energy in a research report on Friday, December 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $156.00 price target on the stock. Mizuho boosted their price target on shares of Atmos Energy from $148.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Atmos Energy from $142.00 to $147.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Atmos Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $150.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $149.15.

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.