Brokerages Set Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT) PT at $60.17

Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eight research firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $60.17.

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on LNT. Barclays raised their price target on Alliant Energy from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Alliant Energy from $56.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. UBS Group raised their price target on Alliant Energy from $64.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Alliant Energy from $58.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised Alliant Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $50.00 to $62.50 in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alliant Energy

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of LNT. Scarborough Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Alliant Energy in the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Kimelman & Baird LLC bought a new position in shares of Alliant Energy in the 2nd quarter worth $41,000. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Alliant Energy in the 2nd quarter worth $43,000. MRP Capital Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Alliant Energy in the 2nd quarter worth $56,000. Finally, Creekmur Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Alliant Energy in the 4th quarter worth $65,000. 79.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Alliant Energy Price Performance

Shares of Alliant Energy stock opened at $60.57 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $15.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.58. 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 stock has a 50 day moving average price of $58.25 and a 200-day moving average price of $53.34. Alliant Energy has a one year low of $46.31 and a one year high of $61.09.

Alliant Energy (NASDAQ:LNT) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.64 by ($0.07). The company had revenue of $894.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $897.03 million. Alliant Energy had a return on equity of 10.23% and a net margin of 15.77%. Alliant Energy’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.64 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Alliant Energy will post 3.05 EPS for the current year.

Alliant Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 31st were given a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.17%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 31st. Alliant Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 69.82%.

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.