Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT) Receives $63.39 Average Target Price from Analysts

Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT) has received an average recommendation of “Hold” from the ten research firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $63.25.

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Scotiabank cut Alliant Energy from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $64.00 to $67.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $57.00 price target on shares of Alliant Energy in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective 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. Barclays lowered their price objective on 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. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Alliant Energy from $60.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 24th.

Alliant Energy Price Performance

LNT stock opened at $64.53 on Monday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $59.94 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $59.93. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33. Alliant Energy has a 52 week low of $46.80 and a 52 week high of $64.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.60.

Alliant Energy (NASDAQ:LNT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.68 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $976.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.14 billion. Alliant Energy had a net margin of 17.33% and a return on equity of 11.39%. Analysts anticipate that Alliant Energy will post 3.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alliant Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st were paid a dividend of $0.5075 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 31st. This is an increase from Alliant Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. This represents a $2.03 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.15%. Alliant Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 75.46%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alliant Energy

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Alliant Energy by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 32,663,708 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,931,732,000 after acquiring an additional 226,275 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its stake in Alliant Energy by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 10,768,159 shares of the company’s stock worth $636,829,000 after buying an additional 76,987 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in Alliant Energy by 7.7% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 7,012,572 shares of the company’s stock valued at $414,724,000 after purchasing an additional 499,802 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Alliant Energy by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,695,767 shares of the company’s stock valued at $395,017,000 after buying an additional 102,601 shares during the period. Finally, T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its position in 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 acquiring an additional 4,141,895 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.90% of the company’s stock.

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.