Bahl & Gaynor Inc. Increases Holdings in Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT)

Bahl & Gaynor Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT) by 0.4% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 327,192 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,321 shares during the period. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. owned 0.13% of Alliant Energy worth $16,654,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Intech Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Alliant Energy by 604.0% during the 1st quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 72,768 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,668,000 after purchasing an additional 62,431 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its position in Alliant Energy by 24.5% in the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 103,499 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,309,000 after buying an additional 20,371 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its position in 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 buying an additional 144,077 shares during the last quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp boosted its position in 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 buying an additional 18,822 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Forsta AP Fonden boosted its position in 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 buying an additional 18,800 shares during the last quarter. 79.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Alliant Energy from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. BMO Capital Markets upped 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 report on Tuesday, August 6th. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Alliant Energy from $58.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded shares of Alliant Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $50.00 to $62.50 in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of Alliant Energy from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $58.50.

Alliant Energy Stock Performance

Shares of Alliant Energy stock opened at $59.00 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $15.13 billion, a PE ratio of 21.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.58. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $56.18 and its 200-day simple moving average is $52.06. 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 1 year low of $45.15 and a 1 year high of $59.80.

Alliant Energy (NASDAQ:LNT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported $0.57 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.64 by ($0.07). The business had revenue of $894.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $897.03 million. Alliant Energy had a return on equity of 10.23% and a net margin of 15.77%. Alliant Energy’s revenue was down 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.64 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Alliant Energy Co. will post 3.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alliant Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 31st were paid a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 31st. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.25%. Alliant Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 69.82%.

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.