Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. Boosts Stock Holdings in Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT)

Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. grew its stake in shares of Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT) by 3.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 30,632 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,105 shares during the quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Alliant Energy were worth $1,812,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. National Pension Service purchased a new position in shares of Alliant Energy in the fourth quarter worth $22,531,000. Advisor OS LLC raised its stake in shares of Alliant Energy by 16.4% during the fourth quarter. Advisor OS LLC now owns 15,239 shares of the company’s stock valued at $901,000 after acquiring an additional 2,149 shares during the last quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alliant Energy during the fourth quarter worth about $201,000. Vaughan David Investments LLC IL grew its stake in shares of Alliant Energy by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Vaughan David Investments LLC IL now owns 763,326 shares of the company’s stock worth $45,143,000 after purchasing an additional 5,035 shares during the last quarter. Finally, IFP Advisors Inc increased its holdings in Alliant Energy by 46.3% during the 4th quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 9,538 shares of the company’s stock valued at $575,000 after purchasing an additional 3,018 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective 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 boosted their price objective for the company from $64.00 to $67.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Alliant Energy from $66.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Alliant Energy from $61.00 to $59.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Guggenheim restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $57.00 price objective on shares of Alliant Energy in a report on Monday, February 24th. Seven investment 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 $63.25.

Alliant Energy Trading Up 2.3 %

NASDAQ:LNT opened at $66.04 on Tuesday. Alliant Energy Co. has a one year low of $47.23 and a one year high of $66.15. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $60.08 and its 200 day simple moving average is $60.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.55, a PEG ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.72.

Alliant Energy (NASDAQ:LNT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $0.70 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 firm had revenue of $976.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.14 billion. As a group, analysts forecast that Alliant Energy Co. will post 3.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alliant Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st were issued a dividend of $0.5075 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. This is an increase from Alliant Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. This represents a $2.03 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.07%. Alliant Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 75.46%.

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.