Franklin Resources Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT)

Franklin Resources Inc. lessened its holdings in Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT) by 0.2% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 3,667,713 shares of the company’s stock after selling 7,586 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in Alliant Energy were worth $216,909,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in LNT. RDA Financial Network increased its holdings in Alliant Energy by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. RDA Financial Network now owns 7,990 shares of the company’s stock valued at $473,000 after purchasing an additional 184 shares in the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Alliant Energy by 8.2% in the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 2,509 shares of the company’s stock worth $148,000 after buying an additional 191 shares during the period. Savant Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Alliant Energy by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 15,937 shares of the company’s stock valued at $942,000 after buying an additional 237 shares in the last quarter. City State Bank raised its holdings in shares of Alliant Energy by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. City State Bank now owns 71,547 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,231,000 after buying an additional 257 shares during the period. Finally, United Asset Strategies Inc. lifted its position in Alliant Energy by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. United Asset Strategies Inc. now owns 59,752 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,534,000 after acquiring an additional 280 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.90% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of 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 downgraded shares of Alliant Energy from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $64.00 to $67.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Guggenheim reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $57.00 price objective on shares of Alliant Energy in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on Alliant Energy from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $63.55.

Alliant Energy Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of Alliant Energy stock opened at $64.42 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $61.88 and a 200 day moving average price of $60.75. Alliant Energy Co. has a fifty-two week low of $47.23 and a fifty-two week high of $66.54. The firm has a market cap of $16.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.95, a P/E/G ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33.

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

Alliant Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st were issued a $0.5075 dividend. 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. This represents a $2.03 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.15%. Alliant Energy’s payout ratio is 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.