Madison Investment Advisors LLC Takes $380,000 Position in Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT)

Madison Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 6,431 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $380,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alliant Energy by 22.6% in the 4th quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 93,862 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,551,000 after acquiring an additional 17,300 shares during the period. Impact Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in Alliant Energy in the 4th quarter valued at $230,000. Essential Planning LLC. acquired a new position in Alliant Energy in the 4th quarter valued at $9,167,000. Sage Mountain Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Alliant Energy in the 4th quarter valued at $200,000. Finally, Morton Community Bank increased its stake in Alliant Energy by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Morton Community Bank now owns 62,223 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,680,000 after buying an additional 1,010 shares during the period. 79.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LNT has been the topic of several recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Alliant Energy from $60.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Guggenheim reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $57.00 price objective on shares of Alliant Energy in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Scotiabank cut 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 note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Alliant Energy from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $63.55.

Alliant Energy Price Performance

Alliant Energy stock opened at $63.05 on Friday. Alliant Energy Co. has a 52 week low of $47.23 and a 52 week high of $66.54. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33. The firm’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 P/E/G ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.54.

Alliant Energy (NASDAQ:LNT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $0.70 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.68 by $0.02. Alliant Energy had a net margin of 17.33% and a return on equity of 11.39%. The business had revenue of $976.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.14 billion. On average, equities research analysts predict that Alliant Energy Co. will post 3.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alliant Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st were given a $0.5075 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. This is a positive change from Alliant Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. This represents a $2.03 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.22%. Alliant Energy’s payout ratio is currently 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.