Atmos Energy Corp (ATO) will raise its quarterly dividend by 8.7 percent to 62.5 cents per share in 2020. This follows a 9.5 percent increase to $0.575 per share announced in 2019. This also marks the utility company's 33rd consecutive year of annual dividend increases.

The next dividend will be paid on December 14, 2020, to shareholders of record on November 30, 2020. The new annual rate of $2.50 per share yields 2.5% at a stock price of $98.27.

Atmos Energy Corporation will now pay an estimated $308 million in dividends to shareholders annually. 

Atmos Energy Corporation, headquartered in Dallas, is a natural-gas-only distributor. Atmos Energy serves distribution customers in communities across eight states and manages proprietary pipeline and storage assets, including one of the largest intrastate natural gas pipeline systems in Texas. Atmos Energy’s history dates back to 1906 in the Panhandle of Texas. The company became known as Pioneer Corporation and in 1983, Energas, the natural gas distribution division of Pioneer, was spun off and later renamed to Atmos Energy.