Korea Investment CORP Purchases 73,101 Shares of Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT)

Korea Investment CORP raised its holdings in shares of Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT) by 62.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 190,875 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 73,101 shares during the quarter. Korea Investment CORP’s holdings in Alliant Energy were worth $11,288,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Alliant Energy by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 32,663,708 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,931,732,000 after purchasing an additional 226,275 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its holdings in Alliant Energy by 0.6% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 10,691,172 shares of the company’s stock worth $648,847,000 after buying an additional 65,110 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Alliant Energy by 1.4% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,593,166 shares of the company’s stock valued at $398,880,000 after acquiring an additional 92,525 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Alliant Energy by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,252,913 shares of the company’s stock valued at $133,237,000 after acquiring an additional 36,438 shares during the period. Finally, Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. increased its stake in shares of Alliant Energy by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 1,815,769 shares of the company’s stock worth $107,385,000 after purchasing an additional 9,281 shares during the last quarter. 79.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LNT has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. 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. 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 research note on Monday, February 24th. UBS Group raised their price target on Alliant Energy from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Guggenheim reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $57.00 price objective on shares of Alliant Energy in a report on Monday, February 24th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alliant Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $63.55.

Alliant Energy Stock Up 0.7 %

LNT opened at $63.58 on Monday. 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 stock has a fifty day moving average of $61.73 and a 200-day moving average of $60.68. Alliant Energy Co. has a fifty-two week low of $47.23 and a fifty-two week high of $66.54. The company has a market capitalization of $16.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.64, a P/E/G ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.54.

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

Alliant Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st were paid a dividend of $0.5075 per share. This represents a $2.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.19%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. This is a positive change 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.