Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB Takes $72,000 Position in Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT)

Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new position in Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 1,186 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $72,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of LNT. Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alliant Energy by 14.7% in the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 196,318 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,915,000 after buying an additional 25,161 shares in the last quarter. Seven Eight Capital LP bought a new position in Alliant Energy in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,248,000. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG purchased a new stake in Alliant Energy during the 3rd quarter valued at $4,742,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Alliant Energy by 9.4% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,183,765 shares of the company’s stock worth $71,839,000 after purchasing an additional 101,387 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Alliant Energy by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,216,475 shares of the company’s stock worth $134,518,000 after purchasing an additional 14,225 shares in the last quarter. 79.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on LNT shares. UBS Group increased their price objective on Alliant Energy from $64.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on shares of Alliant Energy from $65.00 to $61.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 4th. Scotiabank cut shares of Alliant Energy from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $64.00 to $67.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Alliant Energy from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Alliant Energy in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $67.00 target price for the company. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $63.39.

Alliant Energy Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LNT opened at $58.95 on Friday. Alliant Energy Co. has a 12-month low of $46.80 and a 12-month high of $64.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $60.72 and a 200 day moving average of $57.47.

Alliant Energy (NASDAQ:LNT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.05. Alliant Energy had a net margin of 16.66% and a return on equity of 10.56%. The firm had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.08 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.05 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Alliant Energy Co. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Alliant Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 31st were paid a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.26%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 31st. Alliant Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 74.42%.

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.