Phillips Financial Management LLC Purchases New Stake in Atmos Energy Corporation $ATO

Phillips Financial Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Atmos Energy Corporation (NYSE:ATO) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 15,167 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,613,000. Atmos Energy comprises approximately 0.2% of Phillips Financial Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 24th largest holding.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in ATO. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Atmos Energy by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,032,554 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,525,687,000 after acquiring an additional 276,485 shares during the period. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in Atmos Energy by 8.5% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 11,893,826 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,993,968,000 after purchasing an additional 927,986 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Atmos Energy by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,786,358 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,808,117,000 after purchasing an additional 155,836 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Atmos Energy by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,214,985 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $703,824,000 after buying an additional 78,438 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE raised its stake in shares of Atmos Energy by 11.0% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 4,199,433 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $775,719,000 after buying an additional 416,933 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 90.17% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on ATO. Truist Financial cut their price target on Atmos Energy from $188.00 to $179.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Morgan Stanley set a $196.00 price objective on shares of Atmos Energy in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Atmos Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Atmos Energy from $182.00 to $191.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Atmos Energy from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Atmos Energy has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $188.27.

Atmos Energy Price Performance

Atmos Energy stock opened at $169.79 on Friday. Atmos Energy Corporation has a one year low of $160.10 and a one year high of $192.51. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $173.43 and a 200-day moving average price of $178.17. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $28.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.19, a PEG ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.60.

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

Atmos Energy Announces Dividend

The business 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 dividend of $1.00 per share. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 24th. Atmos Energy’s payout ratio is presently 47.56%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director William James Ware purchased 300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $167.59 per share, for a total transaction of $50,277.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 488 shares in the company, valued at approximately $81,783.92. This represents a 159.57% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.43% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Atmos Energy Company 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.