Royal Bank of Canada Grows Holdings in Atmos Energy Co. (NYSE:ATO)

Royal Bank of Canada raised its position in Atmos Energy Co. (NYSE:ATO) by 4.6% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 531,748 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 23,378 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada’s holdings in Atmos Energy were worth $74,057,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ATO. Capital International Investors increased its holdings in Atmos Energy by 211.8% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 8,160,144 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,136,463,000 after buying an additional 5,543,451 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Atmos Energy in the fourth quarter valued at $206,538,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its position in shares of Atmos Energy by 541.4% in the fourth quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 1,525,116 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $212,403,000 after purchasing an additional 1,287,325 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE grew its position in shares of Atmos Energy by 146.2% in the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,713,421 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $238,628,000 after purchasing an additional 1,017,575 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Atmos Energy in the fourth quarter valued at about $112,002,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.17% of the company’s stock.

Atmos Energy Stock Performance

ATO opened at $158.96 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.25 billion, a PE ratio of 22.64, a PEG ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.74. Atmos Energy Co. has a twelve month low of $110.97 and a twelve month high of $167.45. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $154.76 and its 200 day moving average price is $147.77. The company has a current ratio of 1.56, a quick ratio of 1.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66.

Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $3.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.92 by $0.11. Atmos Energy had a net margin of 25.90% and a return on equity of 8.89%. The firm had revenue of $1.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.82 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.85 earnings per share. Atmos Energy’s quarterly revenue was up 18.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Atmos Energy Co. will post 7.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Atmos Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 9th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 27th will be paid a dividend of $0.87 per share. This represents a $3.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 27th. Atmos Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.33%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Atmos Energy news, Director Kim R. Cocklin sold 15,000 shares of Atmos Energy stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.98, for a total transaction of $2,264,700.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 172,632 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,063,979.36. The trade was a 7.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.48% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ATO has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Atmos Energy from $148.00 to $163.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Atmos Energy from $164.00 to $166.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Mizuho lowered shares of Atmos Energy from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $165.00 to $164.00 in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Atmos Energy in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Atmos Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Atmos Energy has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $155.15.

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.