Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT) Stock Position Decreased by Prudential Financial Inc.

Prudential Financial Inc. decreased its position in Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT) by 13.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 136,384 shares of the company’s stock after selling 21,584 shares during the quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. owned about 0.05% of Alliant Energy worth $8,066,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LNT. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Alliant Energy by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 32,663,708 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,931,732,000 after acquiring an additional 226,275 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its holdings in Alliant Energy by 0.6% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 10,691,172 shares of the company’s stock worth $648,847,000 after purchasing an additional 65,110 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Alliant Energy by 1.4% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,593,166 shares of the company’s stock worth $398,880,000 after buying an additional 92,525 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Alliant Energy by 1.6% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. lifted its position in shares of Alliant Energy by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 1,815,769 shares of the company’s stock worth $107,385,000 after buying an additional 9,281 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.90% of the company’s stock.

Alliant Energy Price Performance

Shares of Alliant Energy stock opened at $63.58 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.72. The company has a market cap of $16.32 billion, a PE ratio of 23.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.54. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $61.73 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $60.67. Alliant Energy Co. has a fifty-two week low of $47.23 and a fifty-two week high of $66.54.

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

Alliant Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st were given a dividend of $0.5075 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 31st. This is a boost from Alliant Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. This represents a $2.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.19%. Alliant Energy’s payout ratio is currently 75.46%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LNT has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Scotiabank downgraded Alliant Energy from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $64.00 to $67.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Guggenheim reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $57.00 price target on shares of Alliant Energy in a research report on Monday, February 24th. BMO Capital Markets boosted 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 note on Monday, February 24th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Alliant Energy from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $63.55.

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.