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 increased its dividend by an average of 8.8% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 40 consecutive years. Atmos Energy has a dividend payout ratio of 45.6% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research 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 Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ATO traded up $0.25 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $120.59. The stock had a trading volume of 991,589 shares, compared to its average volume of 807,761. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $18.19 billion, a PE ratio of 19.10, a P/E/G ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.66. Atmos Energy has a 52 week low of $101.00 and a 52 week high of $125.28. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $116.35 and its 200 day moving average price is $114.40.

Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 8th. The utilities provider reported $2.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.66 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $1.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.54 billion. Atmos Energy had a return on equity of 8.62% and a net margin of 23.43%. Atmos Energy’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.48 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Atmos Energy will post 6.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Atmos Energy

In other Atmos Energy news, Director Kim R. Cocklin sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the director now directly owns 186,339 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,701,039.94. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have commented on ATO. UBS Group started coverage on shares of Atmos Energy in a report on Friday, April 12th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $124.00 target price for the company. StockNews.com downgraded Atmos Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, April 27th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on Atmos Energy from $115.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Atmos Energy currently has a consensus 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.