US Bancorp DE Trims Stake in Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT)

US Bancorp DE decreased its holdings in shares of Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT) by 4.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 119,388 shares of the company’s stock after selling 5,050 shares during the quarter. US Bancorp DE’s holdings in Alliant Energy were worth $7,061,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Point72 Asset Management L.P. increased its stake in Alliant Energy by 92.7% in the 3rd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,604,272 shares of the company’s stock worth $97,363,000 after buying an additional 771,919 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alliant Energy during the fourth quarter worth approximately $32,225,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in shares of Alliant Energy by 8.5% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 6,512,770 shares of the company’s stock valued at $395,260,000 after acquiring an additional 512,429 shares in the last quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama boosted its holdings in shares of Alliant Energy by 698.3% in the third quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 451,477 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,400,000 after purchasing an additional 394,920 shares during the period. Finally, National Pension Service purchased a new stake in shares of Alliant Energy in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $22,531,000. Institutional investors own 79.90% of the company’s stock.

Alliant Energy Stock Performance

LNT stock opened at $64.26 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $60.17 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $60.10. 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 one year low of $47.23 and a one year high of $66.54. The firm has a market cap of $16.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.89, a PEG ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.60.

Alliant Energy (NASDAQ:LNT) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $0.70 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.68 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $976.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.14 billion. Alliant Energy had a net margin of 17.33% and a return on equity of 11.39%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Alliant Energy Co. will post 3.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alliant Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st were paid a dividend of $0.5075 per share. This represents a $2.03 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.16%. This is an increase from Alliant Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 31st. Alliant Energy’s payout ratio is 75.46%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Alliant Energy from $60.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Scotiabank lowered Alliant Energy from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $64.00 to $67.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $57.00 price objective on shares of Alliant Energy in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Alliant Energy from $61.00 to $59.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alliant Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $63.25.

Alliant Energy 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.