Company: ATO
Filing Date: 2025-12-19
Form Type: DEF 14A
Source: 0000731802-25-000076
Chunk: 33

Company: ATMOS ENERGY CORP
Filing Date: 2025-12-19
Form: DEF 14A
Chunk 33
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 reviewed competitive compensation benchmarking data, as discussed below, to establish an annual target opportunity expressed as a percentage of base salary earned during fiscal 2025 for each named executive officer. Such target incentive award opportunities are reviewed each year and benchmarked against the 50th percentile for similar positions within companies in our proxy peer group. The Incentive Plan targets for fiscal 2025 for each of the named executive officers were as follows, which were increased from fiscal 2024 levels to better align with peer compensation.

| Name                    |     |     | Fiscal Year 2025      
 Incentive Plan Target 
 as Percentage (%) of  
 Base Salary Earned    |
| J. Kevin Akers          |     | 120 |                       |
| Christopher T. Forsythe |     |  80 |                       |
| Jessica W. Bateman      |     |  70 |                       |
| John S. McDill          |     |  70 |                       |
| Karen E. Hartsfield     |     |  70 |                       |

#### 2026 Proxy Statement39
Compensation Discussion & Analysis

At its meeting in November 2024, the HR Committee established the threshold, target and maximum performance levels of EPS upon which the Incentive Plan’s awards would be based for fiscal 2025, along with the corresponding percentages of target awards to be paid out. The target EPS performance level was based on our annual business plan and budget and considered factors including the allowed rates of return in our established service areas, natural gas pricing and volatility, budgeted capital expenditures, expected growth within our service areas, competitive factors from other service providers, and other business considerations embedded in our annual business planning process.

| EPS as measurement metric                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            
 The HR Committee believes that EPS is the most appropriate measurement of our financial performance both on an annual and long-term basis, because it most accurately reflects the growth and performance of our operations. The EPS measurement is also one of the most currently well-known measurements of overall financial performance of public companies, particularly within the utility industry. The HR Committee believes that using this measurement as the basis for our incentive compensation plans best aligns the interests of our named executive officers with the interests of our shareholders. 
 Annually increasing EPS target performance levels                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    
 The HR Committee has continued to set increasingly challenging EPS target performance levels under the Incentive Plan each fiscal year, as demonstrated by increasing such target performance levels on average by 9% per year over the last three fiscal