BMO Capital Markets Increases Alliant Energy (NASDAQ:LNT) Price Target to $66.00

Alliant Energy (NASDAQ:LNT) had its target price increased by BMO Capital Markets from $60.00 to $66.00 in a report published on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a market perform rating on the stock.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Alliant Energy from $66.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Guggenheim restated a “neutral” rating and set a $57.00 price objective on shares of Alliant Energy in a research note on Monday. Scotiabank lowered shares of Alliant Energy from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $64.00 to $67.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Alliant Energy from $61.00 to $59.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $63.25.

Alliant Energy Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of LNT stock opened at $63.98 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33. Alliant Energy has a 1 year low of $46.80 and a 1 year high of $64.19. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $59.72 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $59.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.78, a PEG ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.60.

Alliant Energy (NASDAQ:LNT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.14 billion. On average, equities analysts predict that Alliant Energy will post 3.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alliant Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st were issued a $0.5075 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. This represents a $2.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.17%. This is an increase from Alliant Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. Alliant Energy’s payout ratio is currently 75.46%.

Institutional Trading of Alliant Energy

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of LNT. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Alliant Energy by 9,113.1% in the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,187,345 shares of the company’s stock valued at $247,640,000 after purchasing an additional 4,141,895 shares during the period. Point72 Asset Management L.P. boosted its holdings in Alliant Energy by 92.7% in the 3rd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,604,272 shares of the company’s stock valued at $97,363,000 after purchasing an additional 771,919 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC bought a new stake in Alliant Energy in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,225,000. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S bought a new stake in Alliant Energy in the 4th quarter valued at about $31,201,000. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in Alliant Energy by 8.5% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 6,512,770 shares of the company’s stock valued at $395,260,000 after purchasing an additional 512,429 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.90% of the company’s stock.

About Alliant Energy

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.