First Business Financial Services Inc. Takes $219,000 Position in Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT)

First Business Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT) during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 3,614 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $219,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its holdings in Alliant Energy by 10.3% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 10,579,475 shares of the company’s stock worth $533,205,000 after purchasing an additional 984,963 shares in the last quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. increased its holdings in Alliant Energy by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 1,756,533 shares of the company’s stock worth $89,408,000 after purchasing an additional 29,358 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in Alliant Energy by 9.9% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,293,966 shares of the company’s stock worth $65,865,000 after purchasing an additional 116,399 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Alliant Energy by 9.4% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,183,765 shares of the company’s stock worth $71,839,000 after purchasing an additional 101,387 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Anchor Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alliant Energy by 6.0% in the second quarter. Anchor Capital Advisors LLC now owns 964,337 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,085,000 after acquiring an additional 54,510 shares in the last quarter. 79.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on LNT. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on Alliant Energy from $65.00 to $61.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Bank of America upped their price objective on Alliant Energy from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded Alliant Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $50.00 to $62.50 in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Alliant Energy from $66.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Mizuho upped their price objective on Alliant Energy from $52.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $63.06.

Alliant Energy Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:LNT opened at $59.50 on Friday. Alliant Energy Co. has a 1 year low of $46.80 and a 1 year high of $62.49. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $59.91 and its 200-day moving average price is $55.57. 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 $15.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.06, a PEG ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.58.

Alliant Energy (NASDAQ:LNT) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.05. Alliant Energy had a return on equity of 10.56% and a net margin of 16.66%. The company had revenue of $1.08 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.08 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.05 earnings per share. Alliant Energy’s revenue was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Alliant Energy Co. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Alliant Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced 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. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 31st. Alliant Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 74.42%.

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.