Exchange Traded Concepts LLC Makes New Investment in Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT)

Exchange Traded Concepts LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT) in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 1,562 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $95,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in LNT. Intech Investment Management LLC grew its position in Alliant Energy by 604.0% during the first quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 72,768 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,668,000 after buying an additional 62,431 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its stake in Alliant Energy by 200.8% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 215,821 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,877,000 after acquiring an additional 144,077 shares during the last quarter. Forsta AP Fonden grew its position in shares of Alliant Energy by 36.3% during the 1st quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 70,600 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,558,000 after acquiring an additional 18,800 shares during the period. FORA Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alliant Energy during the 1st quarter worth approximately $2,199,000. Finally, Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Alliant Energy by 105.5% in the 1st quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. now owns 33,166 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,672,000 after purchasing an additional 17,030 shares during the period. 79.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have weighed in 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 report on Friday, September 20th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Alliant Energy from $58.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Alliant Energy from $55.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Alliant Energy from $52.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their target price on Alliant Energy from $58.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alliant Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $63.28.

Alliant Energy Price Performance

Shares of Alliant Energy stock opened at $61.04 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $15.65 billion, a PE ratio of 22.20, a P/E/G ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.58. The business has a 50 day moving average of $59.43 and a 200 day moving average of $54.44. Alliant Energy Co. has a 52 week low of $46.80 and a 52 week high of $62.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.31.

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

Alliant Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 31st will be given a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 31st. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.15%. Alliant Energy’s payout ratio is 69.82%.

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.