NEW YORK, December 30, 2025, 11:06 ET
- Atmos Energy will begin a two-phase natural gas line upgrade on Watauga Street in Kingsport, Tennessee, starting Jan. 5, the city said.
- Work is expected to run about six months, from the Watauga Street roundabout to Lamont Street, with no road closures expected.
- Atmos shares were little changed as investors weigh the utility’s dividend profile and infrastructure spending.
Atmos Energy will begin upgrading natural gas lines along Watauga Street in Kingsport, Tennessee, on Jan. 5, the city said on Tuesday. Local outlet WJHL reported the work will be carried out in phases along the corridor.
The timeline matters for residents and businesses because crews are set to start preparations immediately after the New Year holiday, and the project runs through a busy stretch of road for months. The early work includes surveying and marking the route before construction intensifies.
The Kingsport work also fits a broader push by regulated gas utilities to replace older pipes and reduce leaks, a safety-driven effort that can translate into years of steady capital spending. Peers such as Spire and ONE Gas have similar multi-year replacement programs across their service territories.
Residents along Watauga Street and nearby neighborhoods may first see survey crews identifying the right-of-way — the strip of land beside a public road where utilities can place and access pipes — and marking it with stakes, according to a local report citing the city.
The first three-month phase is expected to run from the Watauga Street roundabout to Linville Street, with a second three-month phase from Linville Street to Lamont Street, the report said. Most work will take place between the sidewalk and roadway, and officials urged motorists to watch for flaggers, adding no road closures are expected.
Atmos has said pipeline replacement work typically involves trenching or boring to lay new pipe, then reconnecting service to the meter — the pipe feeding gas to a home — followed by a safety inspection inside the house before service is restored.
Atmos Energy, an S&P 500 company headquartered in Dallas, is a natural gas-only distributor that serves about 3.4 million customers across eight states, primarily in the South, according to company materials.
Atmos shares were down about 0.2% at $168.46 in late morning trading.
A Zacks Equity Research note published on Monday described Atmos as an income stock, citing a $1.00 quarterly dividend and a dividend yield of 2.38% — the dividend expressed as a percentage of the share price. The note also pegged the company’s payout ratio, or the share of earnings paid out as dividends, at 46% and put its 2025 earnings estimate at $8.02 per share.
Atmos raised its quarterly dividend to $1.00 per share in November, implying an annual dividend of $4.00, and said it marked the company’s 168th consecutive quarterly dividend.
Investor attention has also been fueled by online commentary. A post on ad-hoc-news on Tuesday described Atmos as a “boring” gas utility and pointed to social-media chatter around its steady business and dividend profile. https://www.ad-hoc-news.de/boerse/news/ueb…
“Atmos Energy’s fundamentals and execution remain strong, but the stock’s valuation already reflects these attributes,” Mizuho analyst Gabriel Moreen wrote in a note, according to TheFly, which said the firm kept a Neutral rating after lifting its price target. https://www.tipranks.com/news/the-fly/atmo…
