William James Ware Purchases 300 Shares of Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) Stock

Atmos Energy Corporation (NYSE:ATO) Director William James Ware bought 300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was bought at an average price of $167.59 per share, for a total transaction of $50,277.00. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 488 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $81,783.92. The trade was a 159.57% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Atmos Energy Trading Up 0.2%

NYSE:ATO opened at $169.85 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $28.70 billion, a PE ratio of 20.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $173.44 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $178.23. Atmos Energy Corporation has a 12 month low of $160.10 and a 12 month high of $192.51.

Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by $0.08. Atmos Energy had a return on equity of 9.67% and a net margin of 28.50%.The firm had revenue of $879.06 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $900.82 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.16 EPS. Atmos Energy has set its FY 2026 guidance at 8.400-8.500 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Atmos Energy Corporation will post 8.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Atmos Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 24th will be paid a dividend of $1.00 per share. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 24th. Atmos Energy’s payout ratio is currently 47.56%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ATO has been the topic of several recent research reports. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Atmos Energy from $184.00 to $183.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th. Mizuho cut their target price on shares of Atmos Energy from $192.00 to $184.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Truist Financial reduced their target price on shares of Atmos Energy from $188.00 to $179.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Atmos Energy from $182.00 to $191.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Atmos Energy from $196.00 to $198.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $188.27.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Atmos Energy during the second quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Garner Asset Management Corp bought a new position in shares of Atmos Energy in the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. Kingdom Financial Group LLC. purchased a new stake in shares of Atmos Energy in the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Atmos Energy by 627.3% in the second quarter. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC now owns 160 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 138 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Western Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Atmos Energy during the 1st quarter valued at $34,000. 90.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.