Buckhead Capital Management LLC Acquires 1,510 Shares of Atmos Energy Co. (NYSE:ATO)

Buckhead Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Atmos Energy Co. (NYSE:ATO) by 10.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 15,470 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,510 shares during the period. Buckhead Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Atmos Energy were worth $1,793,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. AE Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Atmos Energy by 21.7% during the 3rd quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,742 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $290,000 after purchasing an additional 489 shares during the last quarter. Toews Corp ADV bought a new position in Atmos Energy during the 3rd quarter valued at about $752,000. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Atmos Energy by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 17,555 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,860,000 after purchasing an additional 812 shares during the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. grew its holdings in Atmos Energy by 29.4% during the 3rd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 55,081 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,835,000 after purchasing an additional 12,529 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Xponance Inc. grew its holdings in Atmos Energy by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 19,415 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,057,000 after purchasing an additional 1,183 shares during the last quarter. 90.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ATO has been the subject of several research reports. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Atmos Energy from $115.00 to $121.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. StockNews.com cut shares of Atmos Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday. Finally, UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of Atmos Energy in a research report on Friday, April 12th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $124.00 price objective for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $124.33.

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 that occurred 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 transaction, the director now owns 186,339 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,701,039.94. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Atmos Energy Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of ATO traded up $0.76 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $118.66. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 498,525 shares, compared to its average volume of 816,001. The company’s 50-day moving average is $115.73 and its 200-day moving average is $114.11. Atmos Energy Co. has a 52-week low of $101.00 and a 52-week high of $125.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.71, a PEG ratio of 2.57 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.

Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 7th. The utilities provider reported $2.08 EPS 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 earned $1.91 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Atmos Energy Co. will post 6.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Atmos Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 11th. Investors of record on Monday, February 26th were paid a dividend of $0.805 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 23rd. This represents a $3.22 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.71%. Atmos Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.