Alliant Energy (NASDAQ:LNT) Releases Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.02 EPS

Alliant Energy (NASDAQ:LNT) announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday. The company reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.68 by $0.02, Zacks reports. Alliant Energy had a return on equity of 10.56% and a net margin of 16.66%.

Alliant Energy Stock Down 0.0 %

Alliant Energy stock traded down $0.03 during trading on Thursday, hitting $61.62. 3,246,987 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,561,981. The company has a market capitalization of $15.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.88, a PEG ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.60. The business’s 50 day moving average is $59.37 and its 200 day moving average is $59.59. Alliant Energy has a 52 week low of $46.80 and a 52 week high of $64.19. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33.

Alliant Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st were issued a dividend of $0.5075 per share. This is an increase from Alliant Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. This represents a $2.03 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.29%. Alliant Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 78.68%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on LNT shares. Barclays dropped 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 report on Wednesday, November 6th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on shares of Alliant Energy from $65.00 to $61.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Scotiabank cut shares of Alliant Energy from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $64.00 to $67.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Alliant Energy from $66.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 4th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $63.39.

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.