Raymond James Financial Inc. Purchases New Position in Atmos Energy Co. (NYSE:ATO)

Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Atmos Energy Co. (NYSE:ATO) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 804,209 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $112,002,000.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of ATO. Noble Wealth Management PBC acquired a new stake in Atmos Energy in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Dunhill Financial LLC boosted its stake in Atmos Energy by 1,542.9% in the 3rd quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 230 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. boosted its stake in Atmos Energy by 50.0% in the 4th quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 300 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. PFS Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Atmos Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at $69,000. Finally, Keystone Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Atmos Energy in the 4th quarter valued at $79,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.17% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on ATO shares. StockNews.com lowered Atmos Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Atmos Energy from $145.00 to $143.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Bank of America started coverage on Atmos Energy in a research note on Friday, December 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $156.00 price objective on the stock. Argus raised Atmos Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $150.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price objective on Atmos Energy from $148.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $148.75.

Atmos Energy Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of ATO opened at $148.63 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.43, a current ratio of 1.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. Atmos Energy Co. has a 12-month low of $110.97 and a 12-month high of $154.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.59 billion, a PE ratio of 21.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.67. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $144.05 and its 200-day simple moving average is $141.27.

Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The utilities provider reported $2.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.20 by $0.03. Atmos Energy had a return on equity of 8.89% and a net margin of 25.90%. As a group, research analysts predict that Atmos Energy Co. will post 7.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Atmos Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be issued a $0.87 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $3.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.34%. Atmos Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 49.57%.

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.