Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT) Shares Bought by Investment Management Corp of Ontario

Investment Management Corp of Ontario lifted its stake in Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT) by 172.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 22,955 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 14,529 shares during the period. Investment Management Corp of Ontario’s holdings in Alliant Energy were worth $1,358,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in LNT. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Alliant Energy by 9.4% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,183,765 shares of the company’s stock valued at $71,839,000 after purchasing an additional 101,387 shares during the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC lifted its stake in Alliant Energy by 517.0% during the fourth quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 617 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 517 shares during the last quarter. Czech National Bank lifted its stake in Alliant Energy by 6.5% during the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 55,636 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,290,000 after purchasing an additional 3,385 shares during the last quarter. City State Bank lifted its stake in Alliant Energy by 0.4% during the fourth 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 last quarter. Finally, Capital Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Alliant Energy by 18.5% during the fourth quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,036 shares of the company’s stock valued at $357,000 after purchasing an additional 941 shares during the last quarter. 79.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LNT has been the subject of several recent research reports. Barclays lowered shares of Alliant Energy from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $59.00 to $61.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Alliant Energy from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Guggenheim restated a “neutral” rating and set a $57.00 price target on shares of Alliant Energy in a report on Monday, February 24th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on shares of Alliant Energy from $66.00 to $64.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $63.55.

Alliant Energy Price Performance

Shares of Alliant Energy stock opened at $61.78 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.86. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $61.85 and its 200-day simple moving average is $60.85. Alliant Energy Co. has a twelve month low of $49.05 and a twelve month high of $66.54. The firm has a market cap of $15.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.58.

Alliant Energy (NASDAQ:LNT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.71 by $0.12. Alliant Energy had a net margin of 17.33% and a return on equity of 11.39%. The firm had revenue of $1.13 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.09 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.62 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Alliant Energy Co. will post 3.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alliant Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.5075 per share. This represents a $2.03 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 30th. Alliant Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 70.00%.

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.