StockNews.com Upgrades Alliant Energy (NASDAQ:LNT) to Hold

Alliant Energy (NASDAQ:LNT) was upgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Thursday.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on LNT. UBS Group increased their target price on Alliant Energy from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Guggenheim restated a “neutral” rating and set a $57.00 price objective on shares of Alliant Energy in a report on Monday, February 24th. Barclays lowered Alliant Energy from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $59.00 to $61.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on Alliant Energy from $66.00 to $64.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Alliant Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $63.55.

Alliant Energy Stock Performance

LNT opened at $62.48 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $16.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.23, a P/E/G ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.72. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $61.67 and its 200 day simple moving average is $60.86. Alliant Energy has a 1-year low of $49.05 and a 1-year high of $66.54.

Alliant Energy (NASDAQ:LNT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.71 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $1.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.09 billion. Alliant Energy had a return on equity of 11.39% and a net margin of 17.33%. The company’s revenue was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.62 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Alliant Energy will post 3.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alliant Energy

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Alliant Energy by 0.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 32,822,215 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,112,110,000 after purchasing an additional 158,507 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its stake in Alliant Energy by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 10,768,159 shares of the company’s stock worth $636,829,000 after purchasing an additional 76,987 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in Alliant Energy by 7.7% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 7,012,572 shares of the company’s stock worth $414,724,000 after purchasing an additional 499,802 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Alliant Energy by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,695,767 shares of the company’s stock worth $395,017,000 after purchasing an additional 102,601 shares in the last quarter. Finally, T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Alliant Energy by 9,113.1% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,187,345 shares of the company’s stock worth $247,640,000 after purchasing an additional 4,141,895 shares in the last quarter. 79.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alliant Energy Company 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.