Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT) Announces $0.48 Quarterly Dividend

Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, October 15th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 31st will be paid a dividend of 0.48 per share on Friday, November 15th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.14%.

Alliant Energy has increased its dividend payment by an average of 6.0% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 21 consecutive years. Alliant Energy has a dividend payout ratio of 58.9% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Alliant Energy to earn $3.27 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.92 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 58.7%.

Alliant Energy Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of Alliant Energy stock opened at $61.08 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.31, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.65. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $58.86 and a 200-day moving average of $54.01. Alliant Energy has a 52-week low of $46.80 and a 52-week high of $61.65. The stock has a market cap of $15.67 billion, a PE ratio of 24.93, a PEG ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.58.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have weighed in on LNT shares. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Alliant Energy from $56.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Alliant Energy from $64.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Alliant Energy from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Alliant Energy from $55.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Alliant Energy from $52.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 4th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $62.83.

About Alliant Energy

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.