Alliant Energy Corporation $LNT Shares Sold by CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC

Key Points

• CIBC Private Wealth Group cut its stake in Alliant Energy by 30.7%, selling 63,951 shares and leaving it with 144,176 shares valued at about $9.72 million.
• Analysts are broadly positive with a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” (nine Buys, three Holds) and an average price target of $75.44, including RBC initiating coverage at an $82 target and Barclays upgrading to equal weight.
• Alliant recently reported a quarterly EPS beat ($0.60 vs. $0.58) and higher-than-expected revenue of $1.06 billion, and raised its quarterly dividend to $0.535 (annualized $2.14), a yield of ~3.1%.

CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC lessened its holdings in Alliant Energy Corporation (NASDAQ:LNT - Free Report) by 30.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 144,176 shares of the company's stock after selling 63,951 shares during the period. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC owned approximately 0.06% of Alliant Energy worth $9,719,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC acquired a new position in Alliant Energy in the third quarter valued at about $27,000. Country Trust Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Alliant Energy during the second quarter valued at about $30,000. MRP Capital Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alliant Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. raised its stake in shares of Alliant Energy by 256.7% in the 3rd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 560 shares of the company's stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 403 shares during the period. Finally, Capital A Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alliant Energy by 5,709.1% in the 2nd quarter. Capital A Wealth Management LLC now owns 639 shares of the company's stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 628 shares during the last quarter. 79.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LNT has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays raised shares of Alliant Energy from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $65.00 to $67.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Royal Bank Of Canada initiated coverage on Alliant Energy in a research note on Wednesday, March 11th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $82.00 price target on the stock. Weiss Ratings restated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Alliant Energy in a research report on Monday, December 29th. UBS Group set a $75.00 price objective on Alliant Energy and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. Finally, Argus reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of Alliant Energy in a report on Friday, January 9th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alliant Energy presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $75.44.

Alliant Energy Stock Performance

NASDAQ:LNT opened at $68.71 on Friday. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $69.27 and its 200-day simple moving average is $67.38. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49. The stock has a market cap of $17.67 billion, a PE ratio of 21.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.66. Alliant Energy Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $57.09 and a fifty-two week high of $73.41.

Alliant Energy (NASDAQ:LNT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 20th. The company reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $673.11 million. Alliant Energy had a return on equity of 11.51% and a net margin of 18.57%.The company's quarterly revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.70 EPS. Analysts expect that Alliant Energy Corporation will post 3.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alliant Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 30th were given a dividend of $0.535 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 30th. This is a positive change from Alliant Energy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.51. This represents a $2.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.1%. Alliant Energy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 67.94%.

About Alliant Energy

Alliant Energy Corporation NASDAQ: LNT is a publicly traded energy holding company headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin, that provides regulated electric and natural gas utility services in the American Midwest. The company serves customers primarily in Wisconsin and Iowa through its regulated utility subsidiaries and operates as an integrated provider responsible for generation, transmission and distribution of energy to residential, commercial and industrial customers.

Alliant Energy's core activities include operating and maintaining electric generation assets, managing the regional transmission and distribution network, and delivering natural gas service to its franchise territories.

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