Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd Sells 3,268 Shares of Atmos Energy Corporation $ATO

Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd lessened its position in shares of Atmos Energy Corporation (NYSE:ATO) by 5.9% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 52,547 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 3,268 shares during the quarter. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd’s holdings in Atmos Energy were worth $9,706,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Atmos Energy by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,032,554 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,525,687,000 after purchasing an additional 276,485 shares during the period. Capital International Investors increased its position in shares of Atmos Energy by 8.5% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 11,893,826 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,993,968,000 after buying an additional 927,986 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its stake 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 worth $1,808,117,000 after buying an additional 155,836 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Atmos Energy by 1.9% during 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 lifted its holdings in Atmos Energy by 2.3% in the third quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 3,737,053 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $638,102,000 after buying an additional 84,786 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 90.17% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on ATO. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Atmos Energy from $184.00 to $183.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. Mizuho dropped their price objective on Atmos Energy from $192.00 to $184.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on Atmos Energy in a research report on Monday, July 13th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $200.00 target price on the stock. Truist Financial raised their target price on Atmos Energy from $187.00 to $188.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Finally, Argus lowered their target price on Atmos Energy from $190.00 to $185.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $186.92.

Atmos Energy Stock Up 0.7%

Shares of NYSE ATO opened at $179.24 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. The firm has a market cap of $29.92 billion, a PE ratio of 22.02, a P/E/G ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.60. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $173.76 and its 200 day simple moving average is $177.67. Atmos Energy Corporation has a 12-month low of $154.23 and a 12-month high of $192.51.

Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The utilities provider reported $3.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.37 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $1.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.94 billion. Atmos Energy had a net margin of 27.58% and a return on equity of 9.59%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.03 EPS. Atmos Energy has set its FY 2026 guidance at 8.400-8.500 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Atmos Energy Corporation will post 8.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Atmos Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 8th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 26th were paid a dividend of $1.00 per share. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 26th. Atmos Energy’s payout ratio is 49.14%.

About Atmos Energy

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.