JPMorgan Chase & Co. Buys 56,604 Shares of Atmos Energy Corporation $ATO

JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in Atmos Energy Corporation (NYSE:ATO) by 13.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 479,308 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 56,604 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned approximately 0.30% of Atmos Energy worth $81,848,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Atmos Energy by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,073,886 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $625,180,000 after buying an additional 63,166 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in Atmos Energy by 94.9% during the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 3,652,267 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $562,851,000 after acquiring an additional 1,778,653 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in shares of Atmos Energy by 3.1% in the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,082,338 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $475,019,000 after purchasing an additional 91,254 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in shares of Atmos Energy by 2.6% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,949,497 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $332,877,000 after purchasing an additional 50,214 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Atmos Energy during the 2nd quarter worth about $282,487,000. 90.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on ATO. UBS Group raised their target price on Atmos Energy from $159.00 to $174.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Zacks Research raised Atmos Energy to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 18th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Atmos Energy from $165.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Morgan Stanley set a $192.00 price target on shares of Atmos Energy in a report on Friday. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Atmos Energy from $163.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $175.67.

Atmos Energy Stock Performance

NYSE ATO opened at $181.54 on Tuesday. Atmos Energy Corporation has a twelve month low of $141.59 and a twelve month high of $182.69. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The stock has a market cap of $30.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.58, a PEG ratio of 3.15 and a beta of 0.75. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $170.34 and its 200 day simple moving average is $170.46.

Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 3rd. The utilities provider reported $2.44 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.41 by $0.03. Atmos Energy had a return on equity of 9.20% and a net margin of 25.67%.The company had revenue of $1.34 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.21 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.23 earnings per share. Atmos Energy has set its FY 2026 guidance at 8.150-8.350 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Atmos Energy Corporation will post 7.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Atmos Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 9th. Investors of record on Monday, February 23rd will be given a dividend of $1.00 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 23rd. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. Atmos Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 51.95%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Sean Donohue sold 450 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.15, for a total transaction of $77,017.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 877 shares in the company, valued at $150,098.55. This trade represents a 33.91% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.43% of the stock is owned by company 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.