Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Sells 64,423 Shares of Atmos Energy Corporation $ATO

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lowered its position in Atmos Energy Corporation (NYSE:ATO) by 4.9% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,246,422 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 64,423 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s holdings in Atmos Energy were worth $208,938,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC lifted its position in shares of Atmos Energy by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 1,579 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $265,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the period. MGO One Seven LLC lifted its position in shares of Atmos Energy by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. MGO One Seven LLC now owns 1,514 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $254,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares during the period. Horizon Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of Atmos Energy by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Horizon Investments LLC now owns 5,439 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $912,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the period. Buckhead Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Atmos Energy by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Buckhead Capital Management LLC now owns 6,671 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,118,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares during the period. Finally, Norinchukin Bank The lifted its position in shares of Atmos Energy by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Norinchukin Bank The now owns 9,733 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,662,000 after acquiring an additional 72 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 90.17% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on ATO. Morgan Stanley set a $183.00 price objective on Atmos Energy in a research report on Thursday, May 21st. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on Atmos Energy from $195.00 to $187.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Citigroup raised their target price on Atmos Energy from $182.00 to $191.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Barclays raised their target price on Atmos Energy from $167.00 to $184.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. Finally, Mizuho cut their target price on Atmos Energy from $192.00 to $184.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $181.90.

Atmos Energy Price Performance

Atmos Energy stock opened at $170.50 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.89. The company has a market capitalization of $28.46 billion, a PE ratio of 20.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 0.60. Atmos Energy Corporation has a one year low of $149.98 and a one year high of $192.51. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $182.00 and a 200 day simple moving average of $176.87.

Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The utilities provider reported $3.47 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.37 by $0.10. Atmos Energy had a return on equity of 9.59% and a net margin of 27.58%.The firm had revenue of $1.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.94 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.03 EPS. Atmos Energy has set its FY 2026 guidance at 8.400-8.500 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Atmos Energy Corporation will post 8.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Atmos Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 8th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 26th will be issued a dividend of $1.00 per share. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 26th. Atmos Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 49.14%.

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.