Proficio Capital Partners LLC Makes New $10.32 Million Investment in Atmos Energy Co. (NYSE:ATO)

Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Atmos Energy Co. (NYSE:ATO) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 74,092 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $10,319,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of ATO. M&T Bank Corp boosted its holdings in Atmos Energy by 9.0% during the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 77,586 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $10,805,000 after acquiring an additional 6,424 shares during the period. Atria Investments Inc boosted its holdings in Atmos Energy by 16.4% during the fourth quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 36,542 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,089,000 after acquiring an additional 5,143 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. boosted its holdings in Atmos Energy by 32.1% during the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 74,793 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $10,416,000 after acquiring an additional 18,161 shares during the period. Keybank National Association OH boosted its holdings in Atmos Energy by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 9,174 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,278,000 after acquiring an additional 394 shares during the period. Finally, Bahl & Gaynor Inc. boosted its holdings in Atmos Energy by 8.1% during the fourth quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 275,345 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $38,347,000 after acquiring an additional 20,664 shares during the period. 90.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Atmos Energy Stock Performance

Shares of Atmos Energy stock opened at $150.12 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 1.56 and a quick ratio of 1.43. The firm has a market cap of $23.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.38, a P/E/G ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.67. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $145.02 and a 200 day simple moving average of $141.92. Atmos Energy Co. has a fifty-two week low of $110.97 and a fifty-two week high of $154.55.

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

Atmos Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were paid a $0.87 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $3.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.32%. Atmos Energy’s payout ratio is presently 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.