Fulton Breakefield Broenniman LLC Trims Stock Position in Atmos Energy Co. (NYSE:ATO)

Fulton Breakefield Broenniman LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Atmos Energy Co. (NYSE:ATO) by 3.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,278 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 135 shares during the period. Fulton Breakefield Broenniman LLC’s holdings in Atmos Energy were worth $496,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Portside Wealth Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Atmos Energy by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC now owns 2,462 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $285,000 after buying an additional 91 shares in the last quarter. Syntax Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Atmos Energy by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. Syntax Advisors LLC now owns 2,876 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $305,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. boosted its stake in Atmos Energy by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 10,338 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,095,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC boosted its stake in Atmos Energy by 9.2% in the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,258 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $133,000 after purchasing an additional 106 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its stake in Atmos Energy by 57.5% in the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 293 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.17% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Kim R. Cocklin sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 186,339 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,701,039.94. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

Atmos Energy Stock Performance

NYSE ATO traded down $1.24 on Friday, reaching $116.93. 733,068 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 666,103. Atmos Energy Co. has a one year low of $101.00 and a one year high of $125.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.64 billion, a PE ratio of 18.56, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.66. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $115.55 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $113.98. 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 7th. The utilities provider reported $2.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.09 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $1.16 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 business earned $1.91 EPS. Analysts expect that Atmos Energy Co. will post 6.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Atmos Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 26th were given a dividend of $0.805 per share. This represents a $3.22 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 23rd. Atmos Energy’s payout ratio is currently 51.11%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

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.