Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT) Shares Purchased by HighTower Advisors LLC

HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT – Get Rating) by 3.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 40,343 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,474 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alliant Energy were worth $2,228,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Utah Retirement Systems lifted its position in Alliant Energy by 0.4% in the third quarter. Utah Retirement Systems now owns 44,794 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,374,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. Hills Bank & Trust Co lifted its position in Alliant Energy by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Hills Bank & Trust Co now owns 45,182 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,494,000 after purchasing an additional 210 shares during the period. Czech National Bank lifted its position in Alliant Energy by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 29,377 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,622,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares during the period. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp lifted its position in Alliant Energy by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp now owns 4,712 shares of the company’s stock valued at $260,000 after purchasing an additional 239 shares during the period. Finally, City State Bank lifted its position in Alliant Energy by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. City State Bank now owns 69,662 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,846,000 after purchasing an additional 242 shares during the period. 75.89% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Guggenheim upgraded shares of Alliant Energy from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $46.00 to $52.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 21st. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of Alliant Energy from $59.00 to $58.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 27th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Alliant Energy from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $58.00 to $61.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 19th. Finally, StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Alliant Energy in a research report on Thursday, May 18th. They set a “sell” rating for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alliant Energy presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $58.67.

Alliant Energy Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of LNT opened at $52.44 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 0.62 and a quick ratio of 0.48. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $54.36 and a 200-day simple moving average of $53.52. Alliant Energy Co. has a 1-year low of $47.19 and a 1-year high of $64.62. The stock has a market cap of $13.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.55.

Alliant Energy (NASDAQ:LNT – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 5th. The company reported $0.65 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.73 by ($0.08). Alliant Energy had a return on equity of 10.74% and a net margin of 15.60%. The business had revenue of $1.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.17 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.77 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Alliant Energy Co. will post 2.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alliant Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 28th were paid a $0.4525 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 27th. This represents a $1.81 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.45%. Alliant Energy’s payout ratio is currently 69.35%.

Alliant Energy Company Profile

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Alliant Energy Corp. is a regulated investor-owned public utility holding company, which 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: Electric Utility, Gas Utility, Other Utility, and Non-Utility and Other.