Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT) Shares Acquired by Smartleaf Asset Management LLC

Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT) by 19.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,185 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 513 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Alliant Energy were worth $189,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Metis Global Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Alliant Energy by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 8,532 shares of the company’s stock valued at $505,000 after purchasing an additional 312 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in Alliant Energy during the fourth quarter valued at about $3,085,000. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. grew its holdings in Alliant Energy by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 30,632 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,812,000 after acquiring an additional 1,105 shares during the period. National Pension Service bought a new stake in Alliant Energy in the fourth quarter worth about $22,531,000. Finally, Advisor OS LLC lifted its holdings in Alliant Energy by 16.4% in the 4th quarter. Advisor OS LLC now owns 15,239 shares of the company’s stock valued at $901,000 after acquiring an additional 2,149 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.90% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Scotiabank cut shares of Alliant Energy from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $64.00 to $67.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Alliant Energy from $61.00 to $59.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Alliant Energy from $60.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Finally, Guggenheim restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $57.00 target price on shares of Alliant Energy in a report on Monday, February 24th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alliant Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $63.25.

Alliant Energy Stock Down 1.3 %

LNT opened at $63.44 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $16.28 billion, a PE ratio of 23.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.54. The business has a 50-day moving average of $60.25 and a 200-day moving average of $60.12. Alliant Energy Co. has a fifty-two week low of $47.23 and a fifty-two week high of $66.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.72.

Alliant Energy (NASDAQ:LNT) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.68 by $0.02. Alliant Energy had a net margin of 17.33% and a return on equity of 11.39%. The firm had revenue of $976.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.14 billion. Equities research 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st were issued a dividend of $0.5075 per share. This is a positive change from Alliant Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. This represents a $2.03 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.20%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. Alliant Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 75.46%.

Alliant Energy Company 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.