Associated Banc Corp Grows Position in Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT)

Associated Banc Corp increased its position in shares of Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT) by 24.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 10,342 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,000 shares during the quarter. Associated Banc Corp’s holdings in Alliant Energy were worth $612,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in LNT. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its position in Alliant Energy by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 10,691,172 shares of the company’s stock valued at $648,847,000 after buying an additional 65,110 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Alliant Energy by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,593,166 shares of the company’s stock valued at $398,880,000 after buying an additional 92,525 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in Alliant Energy by 8.5% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 6,512,770 shares of the company’s stock valued at $395,260,000 after buying an additional 512,429 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Alliant Energy by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,252,913 shares of the company’s stock valued at $133,237,000 after buying an additional 36,438 shares during the period. Finally, Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its position in Alliant Energy by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 1,815,769 shares of the company’s stock valued at $107,385,000 after buying an additional 9,281 shares during the period. 79.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alliant Energy Trading Up 1.2 %

NASDAQ LNT opened at $62.95 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33. The firm has a market cap of $16.16 billion, a PE ratio of 23.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $60.73 and a 200 day moving average price of $60.35. Alliant Energy Co. has a 52 week low of $47.23 and a 52 week high of $66.54.

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

Alliant Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st were paid a dividend of $0.5075 per share. This is a positive change from Alliant Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 31st. This represents a $2.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.22%. Alliant Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 75.46%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on LNT. BMO Capital Markets boosted 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. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $57.00 price target on shares of Alliant Energy in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Finally, Scotiabank cut shares of Alliant Energy from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $64.00 to $67.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $63.25.

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.