Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Cuts Position in Atmos Energy Co. (NYSE:ATO)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System reduced its position in Atmos Energy Co. (NYSE:ATO) by 0.6% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 139,815 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 880 shares during the quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System owned 0.09% of Atmos Energy worth $16,309,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main grew its position in Atmos Energy by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 1,489,174 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $172,595,000 after acquiring an additional 50,209 shares during the last quarter. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. boosted its position in Atmos Energy by 281.3% during the fourth quarter. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. now owns 562,622 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $65,208,000 after buying an additional 415,054 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Atmos Energy by 40.7% during the fourth quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 24,696 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,862,000 after buying an additional 7,141 shares during the last quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co increased its holdings in shares of Atmos Energy by 3.9% in the first quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 176,224 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $20,957,000 after buying an additional 6,641 shares during the period. Finally, Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Atmos Energy in the 1st quarter valued at about $1,876,000. 90.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Barclays raised their price target on Atmos Energy from $121.00 to $129.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 14th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Atmos Energy from $122.00 to $119.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Atmos Energy from $134.00 to $144.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Atmos Energy from $132.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Atmos Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $133.17.

Atmos Energy Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE ATO traded up $1.35 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $130.74. 872,069 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 889,641. Atmos Energy Co. has a 12-month low of $101.00 and a 12-month high of $132.24. The firm has a market cap of $19.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.60, a P/E/G ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.67. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $124.19 and a 200 day moving average price of $118.78. 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 (NYSE:ATO) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The utilities provider reported $1.08 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.05 by $0.03. Atmos Energy had a return on equity of 9.01% and a net margin of 24.65%. The firm had revenue of $701.55 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $924.75 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.94 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Atmos Energy Co. will post 6.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Atmos Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 9th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 26th will be issued a dividend of $0.805 per share. This represents a $3.22 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 26th. Atmos Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.28%.

About Atmos Energy

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.