Raymond James & Associates Purchases 43,076 Shares of Atmos Energy Co. (NYSE:ATO)

Raymond James & Associates boosted its position in shares of Atmos Energy Co. (NYSE:ATO) by 9.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 494,882 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 43,076 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates owned about 0.33% of Atmos Energy worth $58,827,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP boosted its holdings in shares of Atmos Energy by 984.6% in the 3rd quarter. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP now owns 282 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 256 shares in the last quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Atmos Energy by 200.0% in the first quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. now owns 288 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 192 shares during the period. Global Retirement Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Atmos Energy by 57.5% in the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 293 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares in the last quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Atmos Energy by 107.0% during the 3rd quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 294 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 152 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Criterion Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Atmos Energy in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $47,000. 90.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Atmos Energy

In other Atmos Energy news, Director Kim R. Cocklin sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.46, for a total transaction of $1,746,900.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 186,339 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,701,039.94. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on ATO. StockNews.com lowered shares of Atmos Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 27th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Atmos Energy from $115.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. Finally, UBS Group initiated coverage on Atmos Energy in a report on Friday, April 12th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $124.00 price objective for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Atmos Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $124.33.

Atmos Energy Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of Atmos Energy stock traded up $0.27 during trading on Friday, hitting $119.32. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 608,234 shares, compared to its average volume of 688,162. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $116.03 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $114.23. The company has a market capitalization of $18.00 billion, a PE ratio of 18.94, a P/E/G ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.66. Atmos Energy Co. has a 52 week low of $101.00 and a 52 week high of $125.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a current ratio of 1.44.

Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The utilities provider reported $2.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.09 by ($0.01). Atmos Energy had a net margin of 23.43% and a return on equity of 8.62%. The business had revenue of $1.16 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.71 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.91 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Atmos Energy Co. will post 6.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Atmos Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 26th were issued a $0.805 dividend. This represents a $3.22 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 23rd. Atmos Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 51.11%.

Atmos Energy Profile

Atmos Energy Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the regulated natural gas distribution, and pipeline and storage businesses in the United States. It operates through two segments, Distribution, and Pipeline and Storage. The Distribution segment is involved in the regulated natural gas distribution and related sales operations in eight states.