Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC Makes New $65,000 Investment in Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT)

Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 1,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $65,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in LNT. Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alliant Energy by 14.7% during the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 196,318 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,915,000 after purchasing an additional 25,161 shares in the last quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new position in shares of Alliant Energy during the third quarter valued at approximately $4,742,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Alliant Energy by 9.4% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,183,765 shares of the company’s stock valued at $71,839,000 after purchasing an additional 101,387 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Alliant Energy by 0.6% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,216,475 shares of the company’s stock valued at $134,518,000 after purchasing an additional 14,225 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Alliant Energy by 22.3% during the third quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 53,600 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,253,000 after purchasing an additional 9,780 shares in the last quarter. 79.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LNT has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Alliant Energy from $52.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Scotiabank cut shares of Alliant Energy from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and increased their target price for the company from $64.00 to $67.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on shares of Alliant Energy from $65.00 to $61.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Alliant Energy from $66.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Alliant Energy from $61.00 to $59.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alliant Energy has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $63.39.

Alliant Energy Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of Alliant Energy stock opened at $60.55 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.72. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $60.21 and a 200 day moving average price of $58.72. Alliant Energy Co. has a 1 year low of $46.80 and a 1 year high of $64.19. The stock has a market cap of $15.54 billion, a PE ratio of 23.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.60.

Alliant Energy (NASDAQ:LNT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.05. Alliant Energy had a net margin of 16.66% and a return on equity of 10.56%. The firm had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.08 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.05 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Alliant Energy Co. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Alliant Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st will be given a dividend of $0.5075 per share. This represents a $2.03 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.35%. This is a positive change from Alliant Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. Alliant Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 74.42%.

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.