6,431 Shares in Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT) Purchased by Madison Investment Advisors LLC

Madison Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 6,431 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $380,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its position in shares of Alliant Energy by 0.6% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 10,691,172 shares of the company’s stock valued at $648,847,000 after acquiring an additional 65,110 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Alliant Energy by 1.4% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,593,166 shares of the company’s stock valued at $398,880,000 after acquiring an additional 92,525 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Alliant Energy by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,252,913 shares of the company’s stock valued at $133,237,000 after acquiring an additional 36,438 shares during the last quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. increased its position in shares of Alliant Energy by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 1,815,769 shares of the company’s stock valued at $107,385,000 after acquiring an additional 9,281 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. increased its position in shares of Alliant Energy by 92.7% during the third quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,604,272 shares of the company’s stock valued at $97,363,000 after acquiring an additional 771,919 shares during the last quarter. 79.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alliant Energy Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of Alliant Energy stock opened at $63.05 on Friday. Alliant Energy Co. has a 52-week low of $47.23 and a 52-week high of $66.54. The company has a 50 day moving average of $61.32 and a 200 day moving average of $60.53. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33. The company has a market capitalization of $16.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.44, a P/E/G ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.54.

Alliant Energy (NASDAQ:LNT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.68 by $0.02. Alliant Energy had a net margin of 17.33% and a return on equity of 11.39%. The company had revenue of $976.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.14 billion. As a group, research analysts forecast that Alliant Energy Co. will post 3.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alliant Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st were issued a dividend of $0.5075 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. This represents a $2.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.22%. This is a boost from Alliant Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. Alliant Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 75.46%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on LNT. Guggenheim reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $57.00 price target on shares of Alliant Energy in a research report on Monday, February 24th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Alliant Energy from $60.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 24th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Alliant Energy from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Scotiabank lowered shares of Alliant Energy from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $64.00 to $67.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $63.55.

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.