Vanguard Group Inc. Has $1.93 Billion Position in Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT)

Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT) by 0.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 32,663,708 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 226,275 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 12.73% of Alliant Energy worth $1,931,732,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of LNT. Mizuho Securities USA LLC boosted its position in shares of Alliant Energy by 46.2% during the fourth quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 24,320 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,438,000 after purchasing an additional 7,687 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. raised its stake in Alliant Energy by 80.4% during the 4th quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 3,141 shares of the company’s stock worth $186,000 after buying an additional 1,400 shares during the period. Enhancing Capital LLC bought a new position in Alliant Energy during the fourth quarter worth about $1,866,000. Xponance Inc. grew its stake in Alliant Energy by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 36,349 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,150,000 after acquiring an additional 1,132 shares during the period. Finally, Cibc World Markets Corp increased its holdings in shares of Alliant Energy by 16.4% in the fourth quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp now owns 40,490 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,395,000 after acquiring an additional 5,698 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LNT has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Guggenheim reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $57.00 price objective on shares of Alliant Energy in a report on Monday, February 24th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Alliant Energy from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Scotiabank cut shares of Alliant Energy from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $64.00 to $67.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Alliant Energy from $60.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, February 24th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $63.55.

Alliant Energy Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LNT opened at $62.86 on Thursday. 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 business has a 50-day moving average of $61.61 and a 200-day moving average of $60.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.37, a PEG ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.54. Alliant Energy Co. has a fifty-two week low of $47.23 and a fifty-two week high of $66.54.

Alliant Energy (NASDAQ:LNT) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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. Alliant Energy had a return on equity of 11.39% and a net margin of 17.33%. The firm had revenue of $976.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.14 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Alliant Energy Co. will post 3.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alliant Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st were paid a $0.5075 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. This represents a $2.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.23%. This is a boost from Alliant Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. Alliant Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 75.46%.

Alliant Energy Profile

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.