Farther Finance Advisors LLC Sells 371 Shares of Atmos Energy Co. (NYSE:ATO)

Farther Finance Advisors LLC reduced its stake in shares of Atmos Energy Co. (NYSE:ATO) by 15.5% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 2,030 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 371 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC’s holdings in Atmos Energy were worth $283,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in Atmos Energy by 10.8% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 13,745,352 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,906,618,000 after purchasing an additional 1,341,640 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Atmos Energy by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,800,610 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,498,153,000 after purchasing an additional 362,594 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Atmos Energy by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 915,695 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $127,529,000 after purchasing an additional 29,745 shares in the last quarter. Amundi increased its holdings in Atmos Energy by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 818,991 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $114,266,000 after purchasing an additional 17,004 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Atmos Energy during the 4th quarter worth approximately $112,002,000. 90.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ATO has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Bank of America initiated coverage on Atmos Energy in a report on Friday, December 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $156.00 target price for the company. Argus raised Atmos Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $150.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday, December 20th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Atmos Energy from $145.00 to $143.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 22nd. StockNews.com lowered Atmos Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Mizuho upped their target price on Atmos Energy from $148.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Atmos Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $148.75.

Atmos Energy Price Performance

Atmos Energy stock opened at $150.53 on Wednesday. Atmos Energy Co. has a 12 month low of $110.97 and a 12 month high of $154.55. The company has a current ratio of 1.56, a quick ratio of 1.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $145.61 and its 200 day simple moving average is $142.31. The company has a market cap of $23.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.44, a PEG ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.67.

Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The utilities provider reported $2.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.20 by $0.03. Atmos Energy had a return on equity of 8.89% and a net margin of 25.90%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Atmos Energy Co. will post 7.18 EPS for the current year.

Atmos Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were given a dividend of $0.87 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $3.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.31%. Atmos Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 49.57%.

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.