Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT) to Issue Dividend Increase – $0.51 Per Share

Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, January 17th,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st will be paid a dividend of 0.5075 per share on Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.35%. This is a boost from Alliant Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48.

Alliant Energy has raised its dividend by an average of 6.1% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 21 years. Alliant Energy has a payout ratio of 55.7% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Alliant Energy to earn $3.24 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.92 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 59.3%.

Alliant Energy Trading Up 0.8 %

Alliant Energy stock traded up $0.48 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $60.55. The stock had a trading volume of 1,697,668 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,417,035. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $60.15 and its 200 day simple moving average is $58.55. 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 has a twelve month low of $46.80 and a twelve month high of $64.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.54 billion, a PE ratio of 23.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 0.60.

Alliant Energy (NASDAQ:LNT) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.05. Alliant Energy had a return on equity of 10.56% and a net margin of 16.66%. The company had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.08 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.05 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Alliant Energy will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on LNT shares. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Alliant Energy from $66.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 4th. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Alliant Energy from $52.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Scotiabank cut shares of Alliant Energy from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $64.00 to $67.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Alliant Energy from $64.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Alliant Energy in a report on Thursday, September 19th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $67.00 price target for the company. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $63.39.

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.