Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Buys 36,438 Shares of Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT) by 1.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,252,913 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 36,438 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Alliant Energy were worth $133,237,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of LNT. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Alliant Energy by 47.6% in the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,652 shares of the company’s stock worth $161,000 after buying an additional 855 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its holdings in Alliant Energy by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 105,653 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,412,000 after buying an additional 1,465 shares during the period. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in Alliant Energy by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 159,552 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,683,000 after buying an additional 4,117 shares during the period. QRG Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Alliant Energy by 10.4% in the 3rd quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 9,557 shares of the company’s stock valued at $580,000 after purchasing an additional 902 shares during the period. Finally, Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Alliant Energy by 24.7% in the 3rd quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 23,031 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,398,000 after purchasing an additional 4,568 shares during the period. 79.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on LNT shares. Scotiabank downgraded shares of Alliant Energy from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $64.00 to $67.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Alliant Energy from $60.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, February 24th. Finally, Guggenheim reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $57.00 price target on shares of Alliant Energy in a report on Monday, February 24th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $63.25.

Alliant Energy Stock Performance

Alliant Energy stock opened at $62.49 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $60.30 and its 200-day moving average price is $60.14. 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 stock has a market cap of $16.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.54. Alliant Energy Co. has a fifty-two week low of $47.23 and a fifty-two week high of $66.54.

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

Alliant Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st were given a $0.5075 dividend. This represents a $2.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 31st. This is a boost from Alliant Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. Alliant Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 75.46%.

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.