Bessemer Group Inc. Purchases 55,546 Shares of Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT)

Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT) by 2,451.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 57,812 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 55,546 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc.’s holdings in Alliant Energy were worth $2,914,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Gables Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Alliant Energy by 68.4% during the 4th quarter. Gables Capital Management Inc. now owns 522 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 212 shares during the period. Goldstein Advisors LLC increased its position in Alliant Energy by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Goldstein Advisors LLC now owns 22,093 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,133,000 after purchasing an additional 240 shares in the last quarter. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC increased its position in Alliant Energy by 2.2% during the 1st quarter. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC now owns 12,199 shares of the company’s stock worth $610,000 after purchasing an additional 268 shares in the last quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. increased its position in Alliant Energy by 6.5% during the 4th quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 4,643 shares of the company’s stock worth $238,000 after purchasing an additional 285 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empirical Finance LLC increased its position in Alliant Energy by 3.7% during the 1st quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 8,614 shares of the company’s stock worth $434,000 after purchasing an additional 306 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.90% of the company’s stock.

Alliant Energy Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of Alliant Energy stock traded up $0.60 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $56.26. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 402,046 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,722,414. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a current ratio of 0.56. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $51.51 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $50.04. Alliant Energy Co. has a one year low of $45.15 and a one year high of $56.79. The company has a market capitalization of $14.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.44, a P/E/G ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.56.

Alliant Energy (NASDAQ:LNT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 3rd. The company reported $0.62 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.62. Alliant Energy had a net margin of 17.53% and a return on equity of 10.57%. The company had revenue of $1.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.01 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.65 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Alliant Energy Co. will post 3.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Alliant Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 31st. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.41%. Alliant Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 69.82%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Scotiabank decreased their price target on shares of Alliant Energy from $57.00 to $53.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Alliant Energy from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Bank of America cut their target price on shares of Alliant Energy from $55.00 to $54.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Alliant Energy from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Finally, LADENBURG THALM/SH SH cut their target price on shares of Alliant Energy from $48.50 to $48.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $51.63.

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.