Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Purchases Shares of 15,400 Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new stake in Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 15,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $790,000.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in LNT. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Alliant Energy by 3.3% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 8,689,427 shares of the company’s stock valued at $421,003,000 after acquiring an additional 278,406 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in shares of Alliant Energy by 4.8% during the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,325,792 shares of the company’s stock valued at $112,685,000 after acquiring an additional 105,723 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Alliant Energy by 2.1% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,055,089 shares of the company’s stock valued at $99,569,000 after acquiring an additional 41,291 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System increased its stake in shares of Alliant Energy by 1.1% during the third quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 1,600,872 shares of the company’s stock valued at $77,562,000 after acquiring an additional 17,521 shares during the period. Finally, Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. increased its stake in shares of Alliant Energy by 4.0% during the third quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 1,343,631 shares of the company’s stock valued at $65,099,000 after acquiring an additional 52,184 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently commented on LNT shares. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Alliant Energy from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of Alliant Energy from $55.00 to $54.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Barclays reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $53.00 price objective (up previously from $50.00) on shares of Alliant Energy in a research note on Tuesday, January 2nd. Finally, Scotiabank decreased their price objective on shares of Alliant Energy from $57.00 to $53.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $51.36.

Insider Activity at Alliant Energy

In other Alliant Energy news, CEO Lisa M. Barton acquired 1,100 shares of Alliant Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $48.56 per share, with a total value of $53,416.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 36,444 shares in the company, valued at $1,769,720.64. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.31% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Alliant Energy Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:LNT opened at $49.59 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $48.90 and a two-hundred day moving average of $49.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.55. Alliant Energy Co. has a 12-month low of $45.15 and a 12-month high of $56.26. The company has a quick ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21.

Alliant Energy (NASDAQ:LNT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 16th. The company reported $0.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.55 by ($0.07). Alliant Energy had a net margin of 17.46% and a return on equity of 10.85%. The business had revenue of $961.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.25 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.46 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Alliant Energy Co. will post 3.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alliant Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 30th will be paid a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 29th. Alliant Energy’s payout ratio is presently 69.06%.

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.