McKinley Carter Wealth Services Inc. Reduces Position in Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT)

McKinley Carter Wealth Services Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT) by 14.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 4,020 shares of the company’s stock after selling 700 shares during the quarter. McKinley Carter Wealth Services Inc.’s holdings in Alliant Energy were worth $238,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in LNT. Point72 Asset Management L.P. lifted its stake in Alliant Energy by 92.7% in the third 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. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in Alliant Energy by 8.5% in the third 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. Retirement Systems of Alabama lifted its stake in Alliant Energy by 698.3% in the third quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 451,477 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,400,000 after acquiring an additional 394,920 shares during the period. Weiss Asset Management LP purchased a new stake in Alliant Energy in the third quarter worth $10,705,000. Finally, Millennium Management LLC lifted its stake in Alliant Energy by 2,141.3% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 180,402 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,182,000 after acquiring an additional 172,353 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.90% of the company’s stock.

Alliant Energy Price Performance

LNT opened at $58.59 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $60.06 and a 200-day moving average price of $59.09. 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 firm has a market cap of $15.03 billion, a PE ratio of 22.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.60. Alliant Energy Co. has a 1 year low of $46.80 and a 1 year high of $64.19.

Alliant Energy (NASDAQ:LNT) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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. The firm had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.08 billion. Alliant Energy had a return on equity of 10.56% and a net margin of 16.66%. Alliant Energy’s quarterly revenue was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.05 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Alliant Energy Co. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alliant Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be given a $0.5075 dividend. This represents a $2.03 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 31st. This is a positive change from Alliant Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. Alliant Energy’s payout ratio is currently 74.42%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LNT has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays dropped 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. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on Alliant Energy from $65.00 to $61.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 4th. Mizuho raised their price objective on Alliant Energy from $52.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Scotiabank lowered Alliant Energy from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $64.00 to $67.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Alliant Energy from $66.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $63.39.

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.