The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Acquires Shares of 387,012 Atmos Energy Corporation $ATO

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company acquired a new stake in Atmos Energy Corporation (NYSE:ATO) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 387,012 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $66,671,000.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Cetera Trust Company N.A bought a new stake in shares of Atmos Energy during the 2nd quarter worth about $43,000. Dearborn Partners LLC acquired a new position in Atmos Energy in the 2nd quarter valued at about $34,777,000. Gallo Partners LP bought a new position in Atmos Energy in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,108,000. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp bought a new position in Atmos Energy in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,402,000. Finally, Osmosis Investment Management UK Ltd acquired a new stake in Atmos Energy during the second quarter worth approximately $481,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.17% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Argus decreased their target price on Atmos Energy from $190.00 to $185.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 2nd. Barclays dropped their price target on Atmos Energy from $184.00 to $183.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. 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 target for the company. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Atmos Energy from $196.00 to $190.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 21st. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Atmos Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $187.73.

Atmos Energy Price Performance

Atmos Energy stock opened at $167.58 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $28.32 billion, a PE ratio of 19.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.73. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $173.50 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $178.31. Atmos Energy Corporation has a one year low of $160.10 and a one year high of $192.51.

Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $879.06 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $900.82 million. Atmos Energy had a return on equity of 9.67% and a net margin of 28.50%.During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.16 EPS. Atmos Energy has set its FY 2026 guidance at 8.400-8.500 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Atmos Energy Corporation will post 8.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Atmos Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 24th will be issued a $1.00 dividend. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 24th. Atmos Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 47.56%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director William James Ware bought 300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $167.59 per share, with a total value of $50,277.00. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 488 shares in the company, valued at $81,783.92. This represents a 159.57% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.43% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Atmos Energy Profile

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.