Brookstone Capital Management Lowers Stock Holdings in Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT)

Brookstone Capital Management trimmed its position in Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT) by 7.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,746 shares of the company’s stock after selling 510 shares during the quarter. Brookstone Capital Management’s holdings in Alliant Energy were worth $399,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Point72 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new stake in Alliant Energy in the second quarter valued at approximately $42,367,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised 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 valued at $395,260,000 after purchasing an additional 512,429 shares in the last quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama raised 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 valued at $27,400,000 after purchasing an additional 394,920 shares in the last quarter. Weiss Asset Management LP purchased a new stake in Alliant Energy in the third quarter valued at approximately $10,705,000. Finally, Millennium Management LLC raised 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 valued at $9,182,000 after purchasing an additional 172,353 shares in the last quarter. 79.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alliant Energy Stock Performance

NASDAQ:LNT opened at $60.55 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $15.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 0.60. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $60.21 and its 200 day simple moving average is $58.62. Alliant Energy Co. has a twelve month low of $46.80 and a twelve month high of $64.19. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $1.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.08 billion. Alliant Energy had a net margin of 16.66% and a return on equity of 10.56%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.05 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Alliant Energy Co. will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Alliant Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st will be issued a $0.5075 dividend. This represents a $2.03 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.35%. This is a boost from Alliant Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. Alliant Energy’s payout ratio is 74.42%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LNT has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Alliant Energy from $66.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Alliant Energy from $61.00 to $59.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Scotiabank cut shares of Alliant Energy from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $64.00 to $67.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of Alliant Energy from $65.00 to $61.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Alliant Energy from $52.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 4th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $63.39.

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.