Alliant Energy (NASDAQ:LNT) Reaches New 12-Month High - What's Next?

Key Points

• Alliant Energy's share price reached a new 52-week high at $67.02, closing at $66.61, with a market capitalization of $17.07 billion.
• Analysts have mixed ratings for Alliant Energy, with four analysts recommending a Buy, five a Hold, and one a Sell, while the consensus price target is $65.50.
• The company reported earnings of $0.68 per share, surpassing expectations, and announced a quarterly dividend of $0.5075 per share, translating to an annual yield of 3.1%.

Alliant Energy Corporation (NASDAQ:LNT - Get Free Report)'s share price reached a new 52-week high on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $67.02 and last traded at $66.61, with a volume of 174113 shares. The stock had previously closed at $66.02.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on LNT. 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. BMO Capital Markets reissued a "market perform" rating and issued a $68.00 price target (up previously from $66.00) on shares of Alliant Energy in a report on Monday, August 11th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Alliant Energy from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Alliant Energy from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, August 14th. Finally, 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. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $65.50.

Alliant Energy Stock Performance

The company's 50-day moving average price is $63.37 and its 200 day moving average price is $62.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a current ratio of 0.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.01 billion, a PE ratio of 20.43, a PEG ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 0.53.

Alliant Energy (NASDAQ:LNT - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $0.68 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.62 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $961.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $977.15 million. Alliant Energy had a net margin of 20.07% and a return on equity of 12.25%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.57 EPS. Alliant Energy has set its FY 2025 guidance at 3.150-3.25 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Alliant Energy Corporation will post 3.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alliant Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 31st were issued a $0.5075 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 31st. This represents a $2.03 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.1%. Alliant Energy's payout ratio is 62.65%.

Institutional Trading of Alliant Energy

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Alliant Energy by 1.5% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 33,303,702 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,013,875,000 after buying an additional 481,487 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its position in Alliant Energy by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 10,768,159 shares of the company's stock valued at $636,829,000 after buying an additional 76,987 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in Alliant Energy by 5.7% during the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 7,082,060 shares of the company's stock valued at $428,252,000 after buying an additional 384,204 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in Alliant Energy by 1.3% during the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,443,014 shares of the company's stock valued at $157,208,000 after buying an additional 30,608 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc grew its position in Alliant Energy by 6.7% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,368,752 shares of the company's stock valued at $143,238,000 after buying an additional 149,679 shares during the period. 79.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.