Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT) Receives $63.39 Consensus Price Target from Analysts

Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the nine ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12 month price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $63.39.

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on LNT. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of Alliant Energy from $65.00 to $61.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Alliant Energy in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $67.00 price objective for the company. UBS Group upped their target price on Alliant Energy from $64.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Scotiabank downgraded Alliant Energy from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $64.00 to $67.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Alliant Energy from $66.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 4th.

Alliant Energy Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ LNT opened at $58.20 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $60.09 and a 200 day simple moving average of $58.30. 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 has a 1 year low of $46.80 and a 1 year high of $64.19. The firm has a market cap of $14.93 billion, a PE ratio of 22.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.60.

Alliant Energy (NASDAQ:LNT) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.05. Alliant Energy had a return on equity of 10.56% and a net margin of 16.66%. The business had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.08 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.05 EPS. Alliant Energy’s revenue for the quarter was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Alliant Energy will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Alliant Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 31st were issued a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 31st. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.30%. Alliant Energy’s payout ratio is 74.42%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alliant Energy

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LNT. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its holdings in Alliant Energy by 0.6% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 10,691,172 shares of the company’s stock worth $648,847,000 after purchasing an additional 65,110 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alliant Energy by 1.4% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,593,166 shares of the company’s stock valued at $398,880,000 after acquiring an additional 92,525 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in shares of Alliant Energy by 8.5% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 6,512,770 shares of the company’s stock valued at $395,260,000 after acquiring an additional 512,429 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Alliant Energy by 0.6% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,216,475 shares of the company’s stock worth $134,518,000 after acquiring an additional 14,225 shares during the period. Finally, Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its position in Alliant Energy by 1.7% in the second quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 1,756,533 shares of the company’s stock worth $89,408,000 after purchasing an additional 29,358 shares during the last quarter. 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.