The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Has $28.14 Million Stake in Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its position in Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT) by 3.1% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 552,836 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 16,561 shares during the quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company’s holdings in Alliant Energy were worth $28,139,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Intech Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Alliant Energy by 604.0% in the first quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 72,768 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,668,000 after acquiring an additional 62,431 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its holdings in shares of Alliant Energy by 200.8% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 215,821 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,877,000 after purchasing an additional 144,077 shares in the last quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp increased its stake in shares of Alliant Energy by 134.9% in the 4th quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp now owns 32,771 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,681,000 after purchasing an additional 18,822 shares during the last quarter. Forsta AP Fonden increased its stake in shares of Alliant Energy by 36.3% in the 1st quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 70,600 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,558,000 after purchasing an additional 18,800 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FORA Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alliant Energy during the 1st quarter worth $2,199,000. 79.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on LNT. Barclays raised their price objective on Alliant Energy from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded shares of Alliant Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $50.00 to $62.50 in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Alliant Energy from $58.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Alliant Energy from $64.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Alliant Energy from $56.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alliant Energy presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $60.17.

Alliant Energy Price Performance

LNT stock opened at $60.69 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $15.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.07, a PEG ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $57.93 and a 200-day moving average price of $53.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.31, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.65. Alliant Energy Co. has a 52-week low of $45.15 and a 52-week high of $61.04.

Alliant Energy (NASDAQ:LNT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported $0.57 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.64 by ($0.07). The company had revenue of $894.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $897.03 million. Alliant Energy had a net margin of 15.77% and a return on equity of 10.23%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.64 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Alliant Energy Co. will post 3.05 EPS for the current year.

Alliant Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 31st were paid a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 31st. Alliant Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 69.82%.

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.