Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) Stock Rating Lowered by Wall Street Zen

Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) was downgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Atmos Energy from $184.00 to $183.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Atmos Energy from $187.00 to $188.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Citigroup raised their target price on Atmos Energy from $182.00 to $191.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on Atmos Energy in a research note on Monday, July 13th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $200.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Atmos Energy from $196.00 to $198.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Atmos Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $186.92.

Atmos Energy Price Performance

Shares of Atmos Energy stock opened at $172.97 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. Atmos Energy has a twelve month low of $155.56 and a twelve month high of $192.51. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $173.46 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $178.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $28.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.60.

Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The utilities provider reported $3.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.37 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $1.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.94 billion. Atmos Energy had a return on equity of 9.59% and a net margin of 27.58%.During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.03 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Atmos Energy will post 8.44 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Atmos Energy

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ATO. Garner Asset Management Corp acquired a new position in Atmos Energy in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Kingdom Financial Group LLC. acquired a new position in shares of Atmos Energy during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Atmos Energy by 627.3% during the 2nd quarter. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC now owns 160 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 138 shares during the period. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Atmos Energy by 270.2% during the fourth quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC now owns 174 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 127 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Elevated Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Atmos Energy in the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Institutional investors own 90.17% of the company’s stock.

About Atmos Energy

Atmos Energy Corporation (NYSE: ATO) is a U.S.-based natural-gas utility that primarily focuses on the regulated distribution of natural gas. Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, the company operates through local distribution systems to deliver natural gas to residential, commercial, industrial and electric generation customers. Atmos’s core activities include pipeline operations, gas distribution, system maintenance and reliability programs designed to ensure safe and continuous service to its customers.

The company’s services encompass gas delivery, system integrity and maintenance, storage and transmission connections, and customer-facing programs such as billing, conservation initiatives and energy-efficiency offerings.