ING Groep NV Takes $1.68 Million Position in Atmos Energy Corporation $ATO

ING Groep NV purchased a new stake in Atmos Energy Corporation (NYSE:ATO) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 10,045 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,684,000.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake 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 valued at $3,525,687,000 after buying an additional 276,485 shares during the period. Capital International Investors grew its stake in shares of Atmos Energy by 8.5% in 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 buying an additional 927,986 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Atmos Energy by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,630,522 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,815,162,000 after buying an additional 356,942 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Atmos Energy by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,214,985 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $703,824,000 after buying an additional 78,438 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE grew its stake in shares of Atmos Energy by 2.3% in the 3rd 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.17% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ATO has been the subject of several analyst reports. 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 research note on Friday, May 8th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Atmos Energy from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Morgan Stanley set a $183.00 price target on shares of Atmos Energy in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Atmos Energy from $167.00 to $184.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. Finally, Mizuho lowered 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $181.90.

Atmos Energy Stock Performance

NYSE:ATO opened at $167.52 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 1.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $27.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.58, a PEG ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $181.38 and a 200 day moving average price of $176.78. Atmos Energy Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $149.98 and a fifty-two week high of $192.51.

Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The utilities provider reported $3.47 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.37 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $1.96 billion during 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 last year, the company posted $3.03 EPS. Atmos Energy has set its FY 2026 guidance at 8.400-8.500 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Atmos Energy Corporation will post 8.43 EPS for the current year.

Atmos Energy Dividend Announcement

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 $1.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 26th. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. 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.