Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. Boosts Stake in Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT)

Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT) by 0.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 1,815,769 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 9,281 shares during the period. Alliant Energy accounts for about 1.0% of Johnson Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 25th largest holding. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Alliant Energy were worth $107,385,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alliant Energy by 47.6% during the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,652 shares of the company’s stock worth $161,000 after purchasing an additional 855 shares during the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in Alliant Energy by 10.4% during the third quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 9,557 shares of the company’s stock worth $580,000 after buying an additional 902 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Alliant Energy by 9.4% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,183,765 shares of the company’s stock worth $71,839,000 after buying an additional 101,387 shares during the last quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. boosted its stake in Alliant Energy by 4.5% during the third quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 76,786 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,660,000 after buying an additional 3,294 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its holdings in Alliant Energy by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 588,744 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,731,000 after buying an additional 14,740 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Alliant Energy from $60.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, February 24th. Scotiabank downgraded shares of Alliant Energy from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $64.00 to $67.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Guggenheim reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $57.00 price target on shares of Alliant Energy in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alliant Energy has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $63.25.

Alliant Energy Price Performance

Alliant Energy stock opened at $62.49 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.86. The company has a market capitalization of $16.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.54. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $60.36 and its 200-day simple moving average is $60.20. Alliant Energy Co. has a 1 year low of $47.23 and a 1 year high of $66.54.

Alliant Energy (NASDAQ:LNT) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.68 by $0.02. Alliant Energy had a return on equity of 11.39% and a net margin of 17.33%. The company had revenue of $976.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.14 billion. As a group, equities 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 issued a dividend of $0.5075 per share. This represents a $2.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.25%. This is a boost from Alliant Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 31st. Alliant Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 75.46%.

Alliant Energy Company 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.