Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. Invests $204,000 in Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT)

Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 3,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $204,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Centennial Wealth Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in Alliant Energy by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Centennial Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 5,896 shares of the company’s stock worth $302,000 after buying an additional 210 shares in the last quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Alliant Energy by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 79,165 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,061,000 after acquiring an additional 233 shares in the last quarter. Lincoln National Corp grew its holdings in shares of Alliant Energy by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. Lincoln National Corp now owns 5,025 shares of the company’s stock worth $243,000 after acquiring an additional 238 shares during the period. Ieq Capital LLC increased its stake in Alliant Energy by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 10,573 shares of the company’s stock valued at $512,000 after purchasing an additional 241 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. raised its holdings in Alliant Energy by 6.5% during the fourth quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 4,643 shares of the company’s stock worth $238,000 after purchasing an additional 285 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.90% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Alliant Energy

In related news, CEO Lisa M. Barton bought 1,100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $48.56 per share, with a total value of $53,416.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 36,444 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,769,720.64. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LNT has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Alliant Energy from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. Scotiabank dropped their target price on shares of Alliant Energy from $57.00 to $53.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 22nd. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Alliant Energy from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Bank of America dropped 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. Finally, LADENBURG THALM/SH SH reduced their target price on Alliant Energy from $48.50 to $48.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alliant Energy has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $51.38.

Alliant Energy Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ LNT opened at $51.13 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $13.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a current ratio of 0.56. Alliant Energy Co. has a 1 year low of $45.15 and a 1 year high of $56.26. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $49.14 and its 200 day moving average price is $49.57.

Alliant Energy (NASDAQ:LNT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 3rd. The company reported $0.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.62. The business had revenue of $1.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.01 billion. Alliant Energy had a return on equity of 10.57% and a net margin of 17.53%. The business’s revenue was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.65 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alliant Energy Co. will post 3.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Alliant Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 29th. Alliant Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 69.82%.

Alliant Energy 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.