Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT) Short Interest Down 17.6% in November

Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest in the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 6,100,000 shares, a decline of 17.6% from the October 31st total of 7,400,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,510,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.0 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LNT has been the subject of several recent research reports. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Alliant Energy from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Scotiabank lifted their target price on Alliant Energy from $58.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded Alliant Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $50.00 to $62.50 in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Alliant Energy in a report on Thursday, September 19th. They set a “hold” rating and a $67.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Alliant Energy from $64.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $63.06.

Alliant Energy Stock Down 0.6 %

LNT traded down $0.39 on Friday, reaching $63.20. 838,038 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,978,476. Alliant Energy has a 52-week low of $46.80 and a 52-week high of $64.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.72. The company has a market cap of $16.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.50, a PEG ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 0.58. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $60.62 and its 200-day moving average price is $56.49.

Alliant Energy (NASDAQ:LNT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.05. Alliant Energy had a return on equity of 10.56% and a net margin of 16.66%. The business had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.08 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.05 earnings per share. Alliant Energy’s quarterly revenue was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Alliant Energy will post 3.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alliant Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 31st were given a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 31st. Alliant Energy’s payout ratio is 74.42%.

Institutional Trading of Alliant Energy

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in Alliant Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at $72,000. Arvest Bank Trust Division bought a new stake in Alliant Energy during the third quarter valued at about $2,063,000. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alliant Energy in the third quarter valued at about $602,000. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Alliant Energy by 2.6% in the third quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 44,862 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,723,000 after purchasing an additional 1,139 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Alliant Energy by 1.4% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,593,166 shares of the company’s stock worth $398,880,000 after purchasing an additional 92,525 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.90% of the company’s stock.

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.