Cibc World Markets Corp Grows Stake in Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT)

Cibc World Markets Corp boosted its position in shares of Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT) by 16.4% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 40,490 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 5,698 shares during the period. Cibc World Markets Corp’s holdings in Alliant Energy were worth $2,395,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of LNT. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Alliant Energy by 9.0% during the 3rd quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 7,631 shares of the company’s stock worth $463,000 after purchasing an additional 631 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its position in Alliant Energy by 9.5% during the 3rd 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. Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its position in Alliant Energy by 14.7% during the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 196,318 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,915,000 after acquiring an additional 25,161 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its position in Alliant Energy by 8.7% during the 3rd 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. Finally, Moors & Cabot Inc. boosted its position in Alliant Energy by 17.7% during the 3rd 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. 79.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Scotiabank cut Alliant Energy from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and increased their target price for the company from $64.00 to $67.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Alliant Energy from $60.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Finally, Guggenheim reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $57.00 target price on shares of Alliant Energy in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Seven 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 presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $63.25.

Alliant Energy Stock Performance

Shares of LNT stock opened at $63.55 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.54. 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 business has a fifty day moving average of $61.19 and a 200 day moving average of $60.49. Alliant Energy Co. has a 1 year low of $47.23 and a 1 year high of $66.54.

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

Alliant Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st were paid a $0.5075 dividend. 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 3.19%. Alliant Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 75.46%.

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.