Atmos Energy Co. Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.81 (NYSE:ATO)

Atmos Energy Co. (NYSE:ATO) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, May 8th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 28th will be given a dividend of 0.805 per share by the utilities provider on Monday, June 10th. This represents a $3.22 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.67%.

Atmos Energy has raised its dividend by an average of 8.8% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 40 years. Atmos Energy has a dividend payout ratio of 45.6% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Atmos Energy to earn $7.03 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.22 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 45.8%.

Atmos Energy Stock Up 0.2 %

NYSE ATO traded up $0.25 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $120.59. 991,589 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 807,761. Atmos Energy has a 52-week low of $101.00 and a 52-week high of $125.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 1.25. The firm has a market cap of $18.19 billion, a PE ratio of 19.10, a PEG ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.66. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $116.35 and a 200 day simple moving average of $114.40.

Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The utilities provider reported $2.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.66 by $0.19. Atmos Energy had a return on equity of 8.62% and a net margin of 23.43%. The firm had revenue of $1.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.54 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.48 EPS. Atmos Energy’s quarterly revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Atmos Energy will post 6.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of Atmos Energy in a research note on Friday, April 12th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $124.00 price objective on the stock. StockNews.com lowered Atmos Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 27th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Atmos Energy from $115.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $124.33.

Insider Buying and Selling at Atmos Energy

In other news, Director Kim R. Cocklin sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.46, for a total transaction 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

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.