HighTower Advisors LLC Sells 1,384 Shares of Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT)

HighTower Advisors LLC reduced its stake in Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT) by 3.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 36,002 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,384 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alliant Energy were worth $2,129,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Sage Mountain Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Alliant Energy in the 4th quarter worth $200,000. Morton Community Bank lifted its holdings in Alliant Energy by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Morton Community Bank now owns 62,223 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,680,000 after acquiring an additional 1,010 shares in the last quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance lifted its holdings in Alliant Energy by 20.6% during the fourth quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 11,020 shares of the company’s stock worth $652,000 after acquiring an additional 1,883 shares in the last quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. lifted its holdings in Alliant Energy by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 1,815,769 shares of the company’s stock worth $107,385,000 after acquiring an additional 9,281 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Alliant Energy by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 55,905 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,306,000 after acquiring an additional 2,305 shares in the last quarter. 79.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on LNT. UBS Group lifted their target price on Alliant Energy from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. Guggenheim reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $57.00 target price on shares of Alliant Energy in a report on Monday, February 24th. Scotiabank lowered 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 report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Alliant Energy from $60.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, February 24th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Alliant Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $63.55.

Alliant Energy Stock Performance

LNT opened at $63.05 on Friday. 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 business’s 50-day simple moving average is $61.32 and its 200 day simple moving average is $60.53. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.18 billion, a PE ratio of 23.44, a PEG ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.54. Alliant Energy Co. has a 52-week low of $47.23 and a 52-week high of $66.54.

Alliant Energy (NASDAQ:LNT) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. 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 analysts’ expectations of $1.14 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Alliant Energy Co. will post 3.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 $0.5075 dividend. This represents a $2.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 31st. This is an increase from Alliant Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. 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.