The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Buys 16,561 Shares of Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its stake in shares of Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT) by 3.1% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 552,836 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 16,561 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned 0.22% of Alliant Energy worth $28,139,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Scarborough Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Alliant Energy during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alliant Energy during the 2nd quarter worth about $43,000. MRP Capital Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alliant Energy in the 2nd quarter valued at about $56,000. Creekmur Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alliant Energy in the 4th quarter valued at about $65,000. Finally, Gradient Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Alliant Energy in the 2nd quarter valued at about $74,000. Institutional investors own 79.90% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Barclays boosted their price target on Alliant Energy from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. UBS Group raised their price target on Alliant Energy from $64.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Alliant Energy from $58.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Alliant Energy from $58.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised shares of Alliant Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $50.00 to $62.50 in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $60.17.

Alliant Energy Trading Down 0.1 %

LNT stock opened at $60.69 on Tuesday. Alliant Energy Co. has a 52 week low of $45.15 and a 52 week high of $61.04. The company has a market capitalization of $15.57 billion, a PE ratio of 22.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.58. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $57.93 and its 200 day simple moving average is $53.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.31, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.65.

Alliant Energy (NASDAQ:LNT) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported $0.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.64 by ($0.07). Alliant Energy had a return on equity of 10.23% and a net margin of 15.77%. The business had revenue of $894.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $897.03 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.64 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alliant Energy Co. will post 3.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Alliant Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 31st were paid a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 31st. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.16%. Alliant Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 69.82%.

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.