Alliant Energy Co. Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.51 (NASDAQ:LNT)

Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, April 2nd, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be paid a dividend of 0.5075 per share on Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $2.03 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.15%.

Alliant Energy has raised its dividend by an average of 6.0% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 21 years. Alliant Energy has a payout ratio of 59.0% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Alliant Energy to earn $3.45 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.03 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 58.8%.

Alliant Energy Trading Up 0.1 %

NASDAQ:LNT opened at $64.49 on Thursday. 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 company has a market capitalization of $16.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.97, a P/E/G ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.54. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $61.98 and its 200 day moving average price is $60.78. Alliant Energy has a 52 week low of $47.23 and a 52 week high of $66.54.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. Scotiabank cut 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. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Alliant Energy from $60.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, February 24th. Guggenheim reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $57.00 price target on shares of Alliant Energy in a report on Monday, February 24th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Alliant Energy from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $63.55.

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.