Atmos Energy Co. (NYSE:ATO) Shares Acquired by MML Investors Services LLC

MML Investors Services LLC boosted its holdings in Atmos Energy Co. (NYSE:ATO) by 11.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 12,096 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,244 shares during the period. MML Investors Services LLC’s holdings in Atmos Energy were worth $1,685,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Atmos Energy by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 20,367,100 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,836,526,000 after purchasing an additional 282,156 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in Atmos Energy by 211.8% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 8,160,144 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,136,463,000 after buying an additional 5,543,451 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Atmos Energy by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,806,449 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $528,760,000 after buying an additional 107,700 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Atmos Energy by 7.8% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,107,267 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $432,749,000 after buying an additional 223,809 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Atmos Energy during the fourth quarter valued at about $206,538,000. 90.17% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on ATO. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Atmos Energy in a report on Monday, March 31st. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Atmos Energy from $164.00 to $166.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded Atmos Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. StockNews.com lowered Atmos Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Mizuho downgraded Atmos Energy from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $165.00 to $164.00 in a research report on Monday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Atmos Energy currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $154.28.

Atmos Energy Stock Performance

Shares of Atmos Energy stock opened at $159.73 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $151.94 and a 200-day simple moving average of $145.96. The company has a market cap of $25.35 billion, a PE ratio of 22.75, a P/E/G ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.69. Atmos Energy Co. has a one year low of $110.97 and a one year high of $164.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 1.43 and a current ratio of 1.56.

Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The utilities provider reported $2.23 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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, equities research analysts forecast that Atmos Energy Co. will post 7.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Atmos Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were issued a dividend of $0.87 per share. This represents a $3.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 25th. Atmos Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 49.57%.

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.