National Pension Service Makes New Investment in Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT)

National Pension Service acquired a new position in shares of Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 380,984 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,531,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its position in Alliant Energy by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 10,691,172 shares of the company’s stock worth $648,847,000 after acquiring an additional 65,110 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Alliant Energy by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,593,166 shares of the company’s stock worth $398,880,000 after acquiring an additional 92,525 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in Alliant Energy by 8.5% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 6,512,770 shares of the company’s stock worth $395,260,000 after acquiring an additional 512,429 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Alliant Energy by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,216,475 shares of the company’s stock worth $134,518,000 after acquiring an additional 14,225 shares during the period. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. boosted its position in Alliant Energy by 92.7% during the 3rd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,604,272 shares of the company’s stock worth $97,363,000 after acquiring an additional 771,919 shares during the period. 79.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $57.00 price target on shares of Alliant Energy in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Alliant Energy from $66.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Scotiabank downgraded Alliant Energy from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $64.00 to $67.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays cut their price target on Alliant Energy from $61.00 to $59.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Alliant Energy from $60.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 24th. 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 stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $63.25.

Alliant Energy Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of LNT stock opened at $64.53 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $59.94 and its 200 day simple moving average is $59.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.86. Alliant Energy Co. has a twelve month low of $46.80 and a twelve month high of $64.76. The company has a market capitalization of $16.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.99, a PEG ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.60.

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

Alliant Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st were issued a dividend of $0.5075 per share. This represents a $2.03 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 31st. This is a positive change from Alliant Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. Alliant Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 75.46%.

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.