Alliant Energy Corporation $LNT Shares Bought by First Trust Advisors LP

First Trust Advisors LP grew its position in Alliant Energy Corporation (NASDAQ:LNT) by 20.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,522,001 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 263,582 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP owned about 0.59% of Alliant Energy worth $102,598,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Magellan Asset Management Ltd boosted its position in shares of Alliant Energy by 802.8% in the 3rd quarter. Magellan Asset Management Ltd now owns 1,553,695 shares of the company’s stock worth $104,735,000 after purchasing an additional 1,381,593 shares in the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. acquired a new position in Alliant Energy during the 2nd quarter valued at about $82,265,000. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. increased its position in Alliant Energy by 54.3% during the 3rd quarter. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. now owns 1,779,087 shares of the company’s stock valued at $119,928,000 after buying an additional 626,410 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake in Alliant Energy by 98.7% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,084,562 shares of the company’s stock valued at $69,792,000 after buying an additional 538,603 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Alliant Energy by 1.5% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 33,303,702 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,013,875,000 after buying an additional 481,487 shares during the last quarter. 79.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on LNT. Barclays upgraded Alliant Energy from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $65.00 to $67.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Argus reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Alliant Energy in a research report on Friday, January 9th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $78.00 target price on shares of Alliant Energy in a research note on Monday, November 24th. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $78.00 target price (up from $72.00) on shares of Alliant Energy in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Finally, UBS Group set a $75.00 price target on shares of Alliant Energy and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $74.50.

Alliant Energy Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of LNT stock opened at $71.57 on Monday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $68.00 and its 200-day simple moving average is $67.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.40 billion, a PE ratio of 22.72, a P/E/G ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.66. Alliant Energy Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $57.09 and a fifty-two week high of $72.65.

Alliant Energy (NASDAQ:LNT) last released its earnings results on Friday, February 20th. The company reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $673.11 million. Alliant Energy had a return on equity of 11.51% and a net margin of 18.57%.The company’s revenue was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.70 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Alliant Energy Corporation will post 3.23 earnings per share for the current year.

Alliant Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 30th were paid a dividend of $0.535 per share. This represents a $2.14 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 30th. This is a positive change from Alliant Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.51. Alliant Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 67.94%.

Alliant Energy Company Profile

Alliant Energy Corporation (NASDAQ: LNT) is a publicly traded energy holding company headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin, that provides regulated electric and natural gas utility services in the American Midwest. The company serves customers primarily in Wisconsin and Iowa through its regulated utility subsidiaries and operates as an integrated provider responsible for generation, transmission and distribution of energy to residential, commercial and industrial customers.

Alliant Energy’s core activities include operating and maintaining electric generation assets, managing the regional transmission and distribution network, and delivering natural gas service to its franchise territories.