Granite Bay Wealth Management LLC Takes $257,000 Position in Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT)

Granite Bay Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT) during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 5,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $257,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in LNT. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in Alliant Energy by 68.3% during the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 4,802,777 shares of the company’s stock valued at $246,382,000 after purchasing an additional 1,948,485 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its position in Alliant Energy by 10.3% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 10,579,475 shares of the company’s stock valued at $533,205,000 after purchasing an additional 984,963 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in Alliant Energy by 103.5% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,286,941 shares of the company’s stock valued at $66,020,000 after purchasing an additional 654,460 shares during the period. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S raised its position in shares of Alliant Energy by 14,057.8% in the first quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 577,072 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,084,000 after acquiring an additional 572,996 shares during the period. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Alliant Energy by 5.8% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 9,194,528 shares of the company’s stock worth $471,679,000 after acquiring an additional 505,101 shares during the period. 79.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on LNT. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Alliant Energy from $56.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Alliant Energy from $58.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH decreased their price objective on shares of Alliant Energy from $48.50 to $48.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Alliant Energy from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Alliant Energy from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $53.88.

Alliant Energy Price Performance

Shares of LNT traded down $0.11 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $55.96. 865,600 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,719,850. Alliant Energy Co. has a 1-year low of $45.15 and a 1-year high of $58.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.31, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.65. The company has a 50 day moving average of $52.76 and a 200-day moving average of $50.54. The stock has a market cap of $14.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 0.56.

Alliant Energy (NASDAQ:LNT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported $0.57 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.64 by ($0.07). Alliant Energy had a return on equity of 10.23% and a net margin of 15.77%. The company had revenue of $894.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $897.03 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.64 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Alliant Energy Co. will post 3.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alliant Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 31st. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.43%. Alliant Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 69.82%.

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.