Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado Purchases 9,788 Shares of Atmos Energy Co. (NYSE:ATO)

Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado boosted its position in Atmos Energy Co. (NYSE:ATO) by 5.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 194,851 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,788 shares during the quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado’s holdings in Atmos Energy were worth $23,162,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of ATO. HB Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Atmos Energy during the fourth quarter worth about $201,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Atmos Energy by 319.2% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 37,215 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,313,000 after purchasing an additional 28,337 shares during the last quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Atmos Energy by 12.8% in the 4th quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC now owns 5,637 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $653,000 after purchasing an additional 639 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in shares of Atmos Energy by 275.0% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,110 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $117,000 after buying an additional 814 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Atmos Energy by 57.5% during the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 293 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 107 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.17% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Atmos Energy news, Director Diana J. Walters sold 400 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.00, for a total transaction of $47,200.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,551 shares in the company, valued at approximately $419,018. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on ATO. Mizuho boosted their price objective on Atmos Energy from $133.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 13th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Atmos Energy from $122.00 to $119.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 24th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Atmos Energy from $121.00 to $129.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 14th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Atmos Energy from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $130.00 to $132.00 in a report on Tuesday, May 14th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Atmos Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $128.67.

Atmos Energy Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE ATO traded up $0.52 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $126.68. The stock had a trading volume of 169,326 shares, compared to its average volume of 902,763. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $117.45 and its 200 day moving average price is $116.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.36. Atmos Energy Co. has a twelve month low of $101.00 and a twelve month high of $127.90. The firm has a market cap of $19.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.67.

Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The utilities provider reported $2.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.62 by $0.23. Atmos Energy had a net margin of 24.65% and a return on equity of 9.01%. The business had revenue of $1.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.54 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.48 earnings per share. Atmos Energy’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Atmos Energy Co. will post 6.78 EPS for the current year.

Atmos Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 28th were paid a dividend of $0.805 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 24th. This represents a $3.22 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.54%. Atmos Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 48.28%.

Atmos Energy 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.