Alliant Energy Corporation (NASDAQ:LNT) Given Average Recommendation of "Hold" by Brokerages

Alliant Energy Corporation (NASDAQ:LNT - Get Free Report) has been given an average rating of "Hold" by the eleven ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have given a hold recommendation and five have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $64.23.

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on LNT shares. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Alliant Energy from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of Alliant Energy from $66.00 to $64.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. UBS Group reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $67.00 price target (up previously from $65.00) on shares of Alliant Energy in a report on Friday, July 11th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $71.00 price target on shares of Alliant Energy and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. Finally, Barclays lowered shares of Alliant Energy from an "equal weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and raised their price target for the stock from $59.00 to $61.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd.

Alliant Energy Stock Up 0.6%

Alliant Energy stock traded up $0.36 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $65.21. 1,303,968 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,931,233. Alliant Energy has a 52-week low of $54.98 and a 52-week high of $66.54. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.56. The business's 50-day moving average price is $61.77 and its 200-day moving average price is $61.39. The company has a quick ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 0.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21.

Alliant Energy (NASDAQ:LNT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.71 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $1.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.09 billion. Alliant Energy had a net margin of 18.26% and a return on equity of 12.01%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.62 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Alliant Energy will post 3.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alliant Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 31st will be paid a $0.5075 dividend. This represents a $2.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.11%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 31st. Alliant Energy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 70.00%.

Institutional Trading of Alliant Energy

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of LNT. Mizuho Securities USA LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alliant Energy by 46.2% during the 4th quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 24,320 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,438,000 after purchasing an additional 7,687 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Alliant Energy by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 32,663,708 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,931,732,000 after purchasing an additional 226,275 shares in the last quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alliant Energy during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $355,000. Ipsen Advisor Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alliant Energy during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $414,000. Finally, Graney & King LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alliant Energy during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $70,000. 79.90% of the stock is currently 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.