AGF Management Ltd. Boosts Holdings in Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT)

AGF Management Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT) by 384.8% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 46,975 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 37,285 shares during the period. AGF Management Ltd.’s holdings in Alliant Energy were worth $2,391,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Intech Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Alliant Energy by 604.0% during the first quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 72,768 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,668,000 after purchasing an additional 62,431 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Alliant Energy by 24.5% in the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 103,499 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,309,000 after buying an additional 20,371 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its holdings in Alliant Energy by 200.8% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 215,821 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,877,000 after acquiring an additional 144,077 shares during the last quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp grew its position in Alliant Energy by 134.9% during the fourth quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp now owns 32,771 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,681,000 after acquiring an additional 18,822 shares during the period. Finally, Forsta AP Fonden increased its stake in Alliant Energy by 36.3% during the first quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 70,600 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,558,000 after acquiring an additional 18,800 shares during the last quarter. 79.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on LNT shares. Barclays lifted their price objective on Alliant Energy from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Alliant Energy from $58.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised shares of Alliant Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $50.00 to $62.50 in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Scotiabank lifted their target price on shares of Alliant Energy from $58.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price target on Alliant Energy from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alliant Energy has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $58.50.

Alliant Energy Trading Up 1.3 %

NASDAQ LNT opened at $59.65 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $56.50 and its 200-day simple moving average is $52.20. The stock has a market cap of $15.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.69, a PEG ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.58. Alliant Energy Co. has a 52 week low of $45.15 and a 52 week high of $59.80. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.31.

Alliant Energy (NASDAQ:LNT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported $0.57 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.64 by ($0.07). The firm had revenue of $894.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $897.03 million. Alliant Energy had a net margin of 15.77% and a return on equity of 10.23%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.64 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Alliant Energy Co. will post 3.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alliant Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 31st were paid a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 31st. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.22%. Alliant Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 69.82%.

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.