Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Acquires 17,681 Shares of Alliant Energy Corporation (NASDAQ:LNT)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Alliant Energy Corporation (NASDAQ:LNT - Free Report) by 0.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,270,594 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 17,681 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned 0.88% of Alliant Energy worth $146,113,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of LNT. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Alliant Energy by 0.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 32,822,215 shares of the company's stock worth $2,112,110,000 after purchasing an additional 158,507 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 76,987 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Alliant Energy by 9,113.1% during the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,187,345 shares of the company's stock valued at $247,640,000 after buying an additional 4,141,895 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Alliant Energy by 7.9% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,412,406 shares of the company's stock valued at $142,670,000 after buying an additional 177,129 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. raised its position in shares of Alliant Energy by 3.1% during the first quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 1,872,409 shares of the company's stock valued at $120,490,000 after buying an additional 56,640 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.90% of the company's stock.

Alliant Energy Stock Performance

Shares of LNT traded up $0.57 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $65.37. The stock had a trading volume of 1,217,923 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,977,139. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $62.61 and a 200-day simple moving average of $62.00. Alliant Energy Corporation has a one year low of $55.98 and a one year high of $66.76. The firm has a market cap of $16.80 billion, a PE ratio of 20.18, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a current ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 0.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35.

Alliant Energy (NASDAQ:LNT - Get Free Report) last announced 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 business had revenue of $961.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $977.15 million. Alliant Energy had a net margin of 20.07% and a return on equity of 12.25%. Alliant Energy's revenue was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.57 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alliant Energy Corporation will post 3.23 EPS for the current 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 issued a dividend of $0.5075 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 31st. This represents a $2.03 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.1%. Alliant Energy's payout ratio is presently 62.65%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on LNT. Wolfe Research raised shares of Alliant Energy from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $68.00 price target for the company in a research report on Monday, July 7th. BMO Capital Markets reissued a "market perform" rating and set a $68.00 price target (up from $66.00) on shares of Alliant Energy in a research note on Monday. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Alliant Energy from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $71.00 price objective on shares of Alliant Energy and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $67.00 price objective (up from $65.00) on shares of Alliant Energy in a research note on Friday, July 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $64.59.

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.