PNC Financial Services Group Inc. Acquires 105,508 Shares of Atmos Energy Corporation $ATO

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its holdings in Atmos Energy Corporation (NYSE:ATO) by 13.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 874,973 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 105,508 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc.’s holdings in Atmos Energy were worth $146,672,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Atmos Energy by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,032,554 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,525,687,000 after buying an additional 276,485 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its stake in shares of Atmos Energy by 3.4% in the third quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 10,965,840 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,872,162,000 after acquiring an additional 359,780 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Atmos Energy by 3.5% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,630,522 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,815,162,000 after purchasing an additional 356,942 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE grew its stake in shares of Atmos Energy by 2.3% during 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 purchasing an additional 84,786 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Atmos Energy by 0.6% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,099,360 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $529,216,000 after purchasing an additional 17,022 shares in the last quarter. 90.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Atmos Energy Trading Down 0.8%

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. Atmos Energy Corporation has a 1-year low of $149.98 and a 1-year high of $192.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.65, a PEG ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.65. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $184.80 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $177.12.

Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The utilities provider reported $3.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.37 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $1.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 company earned $3.03 EPS. Atmos Energy has set its FY 2026 guidance at 8.400-8.500 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Atmos Energy Corporation will post 8.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Atmos Energy Announces Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ATO has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Weiss Ratings lowered Atmos Energy from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Wall Street Zen cut Atmos Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Atmos Energy from $197.00 to $195.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Truist Financial cut their target price on shares of Atmos Energy from $195.00 to $187.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on shares of Atmos Energy from $167.00 to $184.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Atmos Energy currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $182.70.

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.