UBS Group Issues Positive Forecast for Alliant Energy (NASDAQ:LNT) Stock Price

Alliant Energy (NASDAQ:LNT) had its price objective raised by research analysts at UBS Group from $65.00 to $68.00 in a research note issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “neutral” rating on the stock. UBS Group’s price target indicates a potential upside of 8.24% from the stock’s current price.

Several other brokerages have also commented on LNT. Scotiabank lowered shares of Alliant Energy from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $64.00 to $67.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Alliant Energy from $60.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Finally, Guggenheim reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $57.00 price objective on shares of Alliant Energy in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $63.55.

Alliant Energy Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of LNT traded down $0.73 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $62.82. 537,174 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,500,137. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $61.19 and a 200 day simple moving average of $60.49. Alliant Energy has a 52 week low of $47.23 and a 52 week high of $66.54. The company has a market cap of $16.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.34, a PEG ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.54.

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

Institutional Trading of Alliant Energy

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Empowered Funds LLC grew its stake in Alliant Energy by 9.5% during the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 4,867 shares of the company’s stock valued at $295,000 after acquiring an additional 424 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its stake in Alliant Energy by 8.7% during the third quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 54,786 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,325,000 after acquiring an additional 4,405 shares in the last quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. grew its stake in Alliant Energy by 17.7% during the third quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 5,975 shares of the company’s stock valued at $363,000 after acquiring an additional 898 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in Alliant Energy by 8.5% during 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 acquiring an additional 512,429 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Alliant Energy by 0.6% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,216,475 shares of the company’s stock valued at $134,518,000 after acquiring an additional 14,225 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.90% of the company’s stock.

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.