Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT) Stake Reduced by Vestcor Inc

Vestcor Inc decreased its holdings in shares of Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT) by 27.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,844 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,232 shares during the period. Vestcor Inc’s holdings in Alliant Energy were worth $346,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Alliant Energy by 9.0% during the third quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 7,631 shares of the company’s stock worth $463,000 after purchasing an additional 631 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc raised its holdings in Alliant Energy by 6.9% during the 3rd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 44,563 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,694,000 after buying an additional 2,894 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC lifted its stake in Alliant Energy by 2.2% during the third quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 8,637 shares of the company’s stock valued at $524,000 after buying an additional 189 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alliant Energy by 9.5% in the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 4,867 shares of the company’s stock worth $295,000 after buying an additional 424 shares during the period. Finally, Natixis Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Alliant Energy by 14.7% in the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 196,318 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,915,000 after acquiring an additional 25,161 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Scotiabank downgraded shares of Alliant Energy from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $64.00 to $67.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $57.00 target price on shares of Alliant Energy in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Alliant Energy from $60.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alliant Energy has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $63.25.

Alliant Energy Stock Up 0.9 %

LNT opened at $63.53 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $16.31 billion, a PE ratio of 23.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.54. The business has a 50-day moving average of $60.86 and a 200-day moving average of $60.41. Alliant Energy Co. has a fifty-two week low of $47.23 and a fifty-two week high of $66.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.72.

Alliant Energy (NASDAQ:LNT) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.68 by $0.02. Alliant Energy had a net margin of 17.33% and a return on equity of 11.39%. The firm had revenue of $976.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.14 billion. Equities research analysts forecast that Alliant Energy Co. will post 3.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alliant Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st were given a dividend of $0.5075 per share. This represents a $2.03 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.20%. This is an increase from Alliant Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. Alliant Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 75.46%.

Alliant Energy Company Profile

Alliant Energy Corporation operates as a utility holding company that provides regulated electricity and natural gas services in the United States. It operates in three segments: Utility Electric Operations, Utility Gas Operations, and Utility Other. The company, through its subsidiary, Interstate Power and Light Company (IPL), primarily generates and distributes electricity, and distributes and transports natural gas to retail customers in Iowa; sells electricity to wholesale customers in Minnesota, Illinois, and Iowa; and generates and distributes steam in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.