Duality Advisers LP Sells 14,731 Shares of Atmos Energy Co. (NYSE:ATO)

Duality Advisers LP reduced its stake in Atmos Energy Co. (NYSE:ATO) by 55.9% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 11,627 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 14,731 shares during the quarter. Duality Advisers LP’s holdings in Atmos Energy were worth $1,348,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ATO. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP lifted its stake in Atmos Energy by 984.6% during the third quarter. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP now owns 282 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 256 shares during the last quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC lifted its stake in Atmos Energy by 107.0% during the third quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 294 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 152 shares during the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC lifted its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 107 shares during the last quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in Atmos Energy by 80.5% during the third quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 296 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 132 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Criterion Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Atmos Energy during the fourth quarter worth $47,000. 90.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on ATO shares. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Atmos Energy from $115.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 14th. UBS Group started coverage on shares of Atmos Energy in a report on Friday, April 12th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $124.00 price target for the company. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Atmos Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 19th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $124.33.

Atmos Energy Stock Performance

NYSE ATO opened at $117.67 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $17.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.68, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.66. Atmos Energy Co. has a twelve month low of $101.00 and a twelve month high of $125.28. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $115.30 and a 200 day simple moving average of $113.86. The company has a quick ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67.

Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 7th. The utilities provider reported $2.08 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.09 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $1.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. Atmos Energy had a net margin of 23.43% and a return on equity of 8.62%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.91 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Atmos Energy Co. will post 6.59 EPS for the current year.

Atmos Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 26th were given a dividend of $0.805 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 23rd. This represents a $3.22 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.74%. Atmos Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 51.11%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Atmos Energy

In other Atmos Energy news, Director Kim R. Cocklin sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $116.46, for a total transaction of $1,746,900.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 186,339 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,701,039.94. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

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.