Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT) Stake Lessened by Macquarie Group Ltd.

Macquarie Group Ltd. lowered its holdings in Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT – Get Rating) by 3.2% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 153,762 shares of the company’s stock after selling 5,039 shares during the period. Macquarie Group Ltd. owned approximately 0.06% of Alliant Energy worth $8,357,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. James Investment Research Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Alliant Energy in the third quarter valued at $25,000. Vectors Research Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Alliant Energy by 477.4% in the second quarter. Vectors Research Management LLC now owns 485 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 401 shares during the last quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alliant Energy in the third quarter worth $36,000. Guardian Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alliant Energy in the third quarter worth $36,000. Finally, Ronald Blue Trust Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alliant Energy in the second quarter worth $38,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.89% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Alliant Energy from $57.00 to $63.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 14th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Alliant Energy to $58.00 in a research note on Monday, November 21st. Guggenheim raised shares of Alliant Energy from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $46.00 to $52.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 21st. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of Alliant Energy from $59.00 to $58.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 27th. Finally, Bank of America downgraded shares of Alliant Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $57.00 to $56.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 7th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alliant Energy currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $59.50.

Alliant Energy Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:LNT opened at $51.96 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a current ratio of 0.53. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $53.95 and its 200-day moving average is $53.94. Alliant Energy Co. has a 52-week low of $47.19 and a 52-week high of $65.37. The company has a market cap of $13.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.03, a P/E/G ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.53.

Alliant Energy (NASDAQ:LNT – Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Friday, February 24th. The company reported $0.46 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.47 by ($0.01). Alliant Energy had a net margin of 16.32% and a return on equity of 11.31%. The company had revenue of $1.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $875.67 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.35 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 14.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Alliant Energy Co. will post 2.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alliant Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, January 31st were paid a $0.4525 dividend. This represents a $1.81 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.48%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, January 30th. This is a boost from Alliant Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. Alliant Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 66.30%.

Alliant Energy Company Profile

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Alliant Energy Corp. is a regulated investor-owned public utility holding company that engages in the provision of regulated electricity and natural gas service to natural gas customers in the Midwest through its two public utility subsidiaries. It operates through following segments: utility electric operations, utility gas operations, and utility other.