North Dakota State Investment Board Buys New Shares in Atmos Energy Corporation $ATO

North Dakota State Investment Board bought a new stake in Atmos Energy Corporation (NYSE:ATO) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm bought 5,425 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $909,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC boosted its position in Atmos Energy by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 1,579 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $265,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the period. MGO One Seven LLC boosted its position in Atmos Energy by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. MGO One Seven LLC now owns 1,514 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $254,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the period. Little House Capital LLC boosted its position in Atmos Energy by 0.6% during the third quarter. Little House Capital LLC now owns 10,733 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,833,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the period. Horizon Investments LLC boosted its position in Atmos Energy by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Horizon Investments LLC now owns 5,439 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $912,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the period. Finally, PAX Financial Group LLC boosted its position in Atmos Energy by 2.3% during the third quarter. PAX Financial Group LLC now owns 3,178 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $543,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the period. 90.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Atmos Energy Stock Down 0.8%

Shares of NYSE ATO opened at $176.25 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. The company has a market cap of $29.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.65, a PEG ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.65. Atmos Energy Corporation has a 12 month low of $149.98 and a 12 month high of $192.51. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $184.80 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $177.12.

Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The utilities provider reported $3.47 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 return on equity of 9.59% and a net margin of 27.58%.During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.03 earnings per share. Atmos Energy has set its FY 2026 guidance at 8.400-8.500 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Atmos Energy Corporation will post 8.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Atmos Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 8th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 26th will be issued a $1.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 26th. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.3%. Atmos Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 49.14%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on ATO. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Atmos Energy from $193.00 to $196.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Atmos Energy from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Atmos Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday. Barclays lifted their target price on Atmos Energy from $167.00 to $184.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on Atmos Energy from $182.00 to $191.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $182.70.

Atmos Energy Company Profile

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.