Raymond James Financial Inc. Takes Position in Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT)

Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 349,620 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,677,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned about 0.14% of Alliant Energy at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of LNT. Natixis Advisors LLC raised its stake in Alliant Energy by 14.7% during the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 196,318 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,915,000 after purchasing an additional 25,161 shares during the period. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG purchased a new position in Alliant Energy during the third quarter worth approximately $4,742,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised 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 worth $134,518,000 after purchasing an additional 14,225 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC purchased a new position in Alliant Energy during the fourth quarter worth approximately $257,000. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its stake in Alliant Energy by 22.3% during the third quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 53,600 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,253,000 after purchasing an additional 9,780 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $57.00 price target on shares of Alliant Energy in a research note on Monday, February 24th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target 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, Scotiabank downgraded shares of Alliant Energy from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $64.00 to $67.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $63.25.

Alliant Energy Price Performance

LNT opened at $62.95 on Monday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $60.73 and a 200 day simple moving average of $60.37. The firm has a market cap of $16.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.40, a PEG ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.54. Alliant Energy Co. has a twelve month low of $47.23 and a twelve month high of $66.54. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33.

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. The business had revenue of $976.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.14 billion. Alliant Energy had a net margin of 17.33% and a return on equity of 11.39%. Equities research analysts expect that Alliant Energy Co. will post 3.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alliant Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 3.22%. 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. Alliant Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.