Benjamin Edwards Inc. Purchases 173 Shares of Atmos Energy Co. (NYSE:ATO)

Benjamin Edwards Inc. grew its position in shares of Atmos Energy Co. (NYSE:ATO) by 1.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,016 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 173 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc.’s holdings in Atmos Energy were worth $1,161,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of ATO. Portside Wealth Group LLC raised its stake in Atmos Energy by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC now owns 2,462 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $285,000 after buying an additional 91 shares in the last quarter. Syntax Advisors LLC raised its stake in Atmos Energy by 3.6% in the third quarter. Syntax Advisors LLC now owns 2,876 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $305,000 after buying an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. raised its stake in Atmos Energy by 1.0% in the third quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 10,338 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,095,000 after buying an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC raised its stake in Atmos Energy by 9.2% in the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,258 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $133,000 after buying an additional 106 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC raised its stake in Atmos Energy by 57.5% in 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 in the last quarter. 90.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ATO has been the subject of a number of research reports. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Atmos Energy from $115.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. StockNews.com cut shares of Atmos Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, April 27th. Finally, UBS Group started coverage on shares of Atmos Energy in a report on Friday, April 12th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $124.00 price objective on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $124.33.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Atmos Energy Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:ATO traded up $0.27 during trading on Friday, reaching $119.32. 582,566 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 810,256. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $115.90 and a two-hundred day moving average of $114.17. Atmos Energy Co. has a 52-week low of $101.00 and a 52-week high of $125.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a current ratio of 1.44. The stock has a market cap of $18.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.66.

Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The utilities provider reported $2.08 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.09 by ($0.01). Atmos Energy had a net margin of 23.43% and a return on equity of 8.62%. The firm had revenue of $1.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.71 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.91 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Atmos Energy Co. will post 6.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Atmos Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 26th were issued a dividend of $0.805 per share. This represents a $3.22 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 23rd. Atmos Energy’s payout ratio is 51.11%.

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.