188,329 Shares in Atmos Energy Corporation $ATO Purchased by Dearborn Partners LLC

Dearborn Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Atmos Energy Corporation (NYSE:ATO) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 188,329 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $32,443,000. Atmos Energy comprises 1.5% of Dearborn Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 13th biggest holding.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Atmos Energy during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,624,975,000. Capital International Investors lifted its holdings in Atmos Energy by 8.5% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 11,893,826 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,993,968,000 after purchasing an additional 927,986 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position 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 purchasing an additional 155,836 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position 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 purchasing an additional 78,438 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in shares of Atmos Energy by 11.0% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 4,199,433 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $775,719,000 after purchasing an additional 416,933 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.17% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on ATO. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Atmos Energy from $193.00 to $196.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Atmos Energy from $196.00 to $190.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Atmos Energy from $196.00 to $198.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Atmos Energy from $182.00 to $191.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Mizuho cut their price objective 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. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Atmos Energy presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $187.73.

Atmos Energy Price Performance

NYSE:ATO opened at $167.18 on Friday. Atmos Energy Corporation has a 52 week low of $160.10 and a 52 week high of $192.51. The firm has a market cap of $28.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.88, a P/E/G ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.60. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $173.44 and its 200 day simple moving average is $178.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 0.81.

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

Atmos Energy Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director William James Ware acquired 300 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $167.59 per share, for a total transaction of $50,277.00. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 488 shares in the company, valued at approximately $81,783.92. The trade was a 159.57% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.43% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.