Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT) Receives Consensus Rating of "Hold" from Analysts

Shares of Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT - Get Free Report) have been given a consensus rating of "Hold" by the ten ratings firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have given a hold recommendation and three have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $63.55.

Several brokerages have weighed in on LNT. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on Alliant Energy from $66.00 to $64.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Guggenheim reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $57.00 price objective on shares of Alliant Energy in a research report on Monday, February 24th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Alliant Energy from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Barclays downgraded shares of Alliant Energy from an "equal weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and upped their price target for the stock from $59.00 to $61.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd.

Alliant Energy Stock Performance

LNT traded down $2.24 during trading on Friday, hitting $59.52. The stock had a trading volume of 4,755,669 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,630,316. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.72. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $61.77 and a 200-day moving average price of $60.84. Alliant Energy has a one year low of $49.05 and a one year high of $66.54. The firm has a market cap of $15.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.13, a P/E/G ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.58.

Alliant Energy (NASDAQ:LNT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.71 by $0.12. Alliant Energy had a net margin of 17.33% and a return on equity of 11.39%. The business had revenue of $1.13 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.09 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.62 earnings per share. Alliant Energy's revenue was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Alliant Energy will post 3.23 EPS for the current year.

Alliant Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.5075 per share. This represents a $2.03 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 30th. Alliant Energy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 70.00%.

Institutional Trading of Alliant Energy

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its position 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 acquiring an additional 4,141,895 shares during the period. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. acquired a new position in shares of Alliant Energy during the first quarter worth $82,496,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Alliant Energy by 6,869.6% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,114,027 shares of the company's stock worth $71,688,000 after purchasing an additional 1,098,043 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC acquired a new stake in Alliant Energy in the fourth quarter valued at $32,225,000. Finally, Carnegie Investment Counsel bought a new position in Alliant Energy during the 1st quarter worth $34,210,000. 79.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.