Graney & King LLC Makes New Investment in Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT)

Graney & King LLC bought a new position in shares of Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 1,183 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $70,000.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of LNT. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Alliant Energy by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 32,663,708 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,931,732,000 after buying an additional 226,275 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its stake in Alliant Energy by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 10,691,172 shares of the company’s stock valued at $648,847,000 after purchasing an additional 65,110 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Alliant Energy by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,593,166 shares of the company’s stock worth $398,880,000 after purchasing an additional 92,525 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Alliant Energy by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,252,913 shares of the company’s stock valued at $133,237,000 after purchasing an additional 36,438 shares during the period. Finally, Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Alliant Energy by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 1,815,769 shares of the company’s stock valued at $107,385,000 after buying an additional 9,281 shares during the last quarter. 79.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Alliant Energy Price Performance

NASDAQ LNT opened at $62.10 on Wednesday. Alliant Energy Co. has a 1 year low of $47.23 and a 1 year high of $66.54. The business’s fifty day moving average is $61.52 and its two-hundred day moving average is $60.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.09, a P/E/G ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.86.

Alliant Energy (NASDAQ:LNT) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $0.70 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.68 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $976.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.14 billion. Alliant Energy had a return on equity of 11.39% and a net margin of 17.33%. On average, research analysts forecast that Alliant Energy Co. will post 3.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alliant Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st were paid a dividend of $0.5075 per share. This is an increase from Alliant Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. This represents a $2.03 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 31st. Alliant Energy’s payout ratio is 75.46%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on LNT. UBS Group raised their target price on Alliant Energy from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $57.00 price objective on shares of Alliant Energy in a report on Monday, February 24th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Alliant Energy from $60.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Finally, Scotiabank downgraded shares of Alliant Energy from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $64.00 to $67.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alliant Energy has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $63.55.

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.