Cozad Asset Management Inc. Has $1.56 Million Stock Position in Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT)

Cozad Asset Management Inc. reduced its stake in Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT) by 1.8% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 26,395 shares of the company’s stock after selling 487 shares during the period. Cozad Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Alliant Energy were worth $1,561,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. RDA Financial Network boosted its position in Alliant Energy by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. RDA Financial Network now owns 7,990 shares of the company’s stock worth $473,000 after purchasing an additional 184 shares during the last quarter. Empirical Finance LLC lifted its position in shares of Alliant Energy by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 8,637 shares of the company’s stock valued at $524,000 after buying an additional 189 shares during the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Alliant Energy by 8.2% during the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 2,509 shares of the company’s stock valued at $148,000 after buying an additional 191 shares during the last quarter. Savant Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Alliant Energy by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 15,937 shares of the company’s stock valued at $942,000 after buying an additional 237 shares during the last quarter. Finally, City State Bank raised its stake in shares of Alliant Energy by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. City State Bank now owns 71,547 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,231,000 after purchasing an additional 257 shares during the period. 79.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on LNT shares. Guggenheim reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $57.00 price objective on shares of Alliant Energy in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Scotiabank lowered Alliant Energy from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $64.00 to $67.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Alliant Energy from $60.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $63.25.

Alliant Energy Price Performance

Shares of Alliant Energy stock opened at $63.53 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.31 billion, a PE ratio of 23.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.54. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $60.86 and its 200-day moving average price is $60.41. Alliant Energy Co. has a 12 month low of $47.23 and a 12 month high of $66.54.

Alliant Energy (NASDAQ:LNT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $0.70 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.68 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $976.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.14 billion. Alliant Energy had a return on equity of 11.39% and a net margin of 17.33%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Alliant Energy Co. will post 3.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alliant Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st were issued a dividend of $0.5075 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. This is a boost from Alliant Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. This represents a $2.03 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.20%. Alliant Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 75.46%.

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.