Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd Acquires 400 Shares of Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT)

Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT) by 1.0% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 38,996 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the quarter. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd’s holdings in Alliant Energy were worth $1,985,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of LNT. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. grew its stake in shares of Alliant Energy by 4.3% during the 2nd quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 7,654 shares of the company’s stock valued at $390,000 after acquiring an additional 313 shares during the period. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. boosted its position in shares of Alliant Energy by 1.7% in the second quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 29,398 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,496,000 after purchasing an additional 490 shares during the period. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. increased its stake in shares of Alliant Energy by 1.7% in the second quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 1,756,533 shares of the company’s stock worth $89,408,000 after purchasing an additional 29,358 shares in the last quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. raised its position in shares of Alliant Energy by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 327,192 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,654,000 after purchasing an additional 1,321 shares during the period. Finally, AGF Management Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Alliant Energy by 384.8% during the 2nd quarter. AGF Management Ltd. now owns 46,975 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,391,000 after buying an additional 37,285 shares in the last quarter. 79.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on LNT shares. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised Alliant Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $50.00 to $62.50 in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Barclays lifted their target price 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. Bank of America upped their price target on Alliant Energy from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Alliant Energy from $58.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Alliant Energy from $56.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alliant Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $58.50.

Alliant Energy Trading Up 1.3 %

LNT stock opened at $59.65 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $56.50 and a 200 day moving average price of $52.26. Alliant Energy Co. has a fifty-two week low of $45.15 and a fifty-two week high of $59.80. The firm has a market cap of $15.29 billion, a PE ratio of 21.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.31, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.65.

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

Alliant Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 31st were paid a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.22%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 31st. Alliant Energy’s payout ratio is 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.