12:45 PM EDT, 05/13/2026 (MT Newswires) -- CFRA, an independent research provider, has provided MT Newswires with the following research alert. Analysts at CFRA have summarized their opinion as follows:

We trim our 12-month target by $1 to $204, 22.7x our next-12-month EPS estimate of $9.00, a premium to peers and above ATO's five-year historical forward average of 19.1x given our positive fundamental outlook for gas utilities and supportive customer growth trends in ATO's service territory. ATO's guidance update exceeded our expectations, raising its FY 26 EPS guidance to an $8.45 midpoint, up from the prior $8.25 midpoint. We lift our FY 26 EPS estimate by $0.27 to $8.52, above the guidance midpoint given ATO's track record of exceeding targets. We also lift FY 27 EPS by $0.25 to $9.08. Our expectation of rising gas demand in Texas is actively playing out, with the company adding over 51,000 new customers in the last 12 months (39,000+ in Texas alone), including 800 commercial and four industrial customers in Q2 alone. Customer growth supports gas distribution volumes and can create additional opportunities for capital investment and subsequent rate increases, in our view.