Parkside Financial Bank & Trust Has $54,000 Holdings in Atmos Energy Co. (NYSE:ATO)

Parkside Financial Bank & Trust boosted its stake in Atmos Energy Co. (NYSE:ATO) by 187.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 463 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 302 shares during the quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust’s holdings in Atmos Energy were worth $54,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund raised its stake in Atmos Energy by 76.7% in the fourth quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 138,150 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $16,012,000 after purchasing an additional 59,979 shares in the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund raised its stake in Atmos Energy by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 347,050 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $40,223,000 after acquiring an additional 2,852 shares in the last quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System raised its stake in Atmos Energy by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 889,224 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $103,061,000 after acquiring an additional 2,820 shares in the last quarter. RWA Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in Atmos Energy during the fourth quarter worth about $513,000. Finally, Kelman Lazarov Inc. acquired a new position in Atmos Energy during the fourth quarter worth about $204,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.17% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Atmos Energy

In related news, Director Kim R. Cocklin sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.46, for a total value of $1,746,900.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 186,339 shares in the company, valued at $21,701,039.94. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on ATO. UBS Group began coverage on Atmos Energy in a research note on Friday, April 12th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $124.00 target price for the company. StockNews.com downgraded Atmos Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on Atmos Energy from $115.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $124.33.

Atmos Energy Stock Performance

NYSE:ATO opened at $116.93 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $17.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a current ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $115.55 and its 200-day moving average is $113.98. Atmos Energy Co. has a 1-year low of $101.00 and a 1-year high of $125.28.

Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The utilities provider reported $2.08 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.09 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $1.16 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.71 billion. Atmos Energy had a return on equity of 8.62% and a net margin of 23.43%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.91 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Atmos Energy Co. will post 6.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Atmos Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 11th. Investors of record on Monday, February 26th were issued a $0.805 dividend. This represents a $3.22 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.75%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 23rd. Atmos Energy’s payout ratio is presently 51.11%.

Atmos Energy Company Profile

Atmos Energy Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the regulated natural gas distribution, and pipeline and storage businesses in the United States. It operates through two segments, Distribution, and Pipeline and Storage. The Distribution segment is involved in the regulated natural gas distribution and related sales operations in eight states.