Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd Buys Shares of 12,111 Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT)

Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new stake in Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 12,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $716,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in LNT. Point72 Asset Management L.P. lifted its stake in Alliant Energy by 92.7% in the 3rd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,604,272 shares of the company’s stock valued at $97,363,000 after buying an additional 771,919 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alliant Energy in the fourth quarter valued at $32,225,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in shares of Alliant Energy by 8.5% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 6,512,770 shares of the company’s stock valued at $395,260,000 after acquiring an additional 512,429 shares during the last quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama boosted its stake in shares of Alliant Energy by 698.3% during the third quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 451,477 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,400,000 after acquiring an additional 394,920 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Weiss Asset Management LP purchased a new stake in Alliant Energy during the 3rd quarter worth about $10,705,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.90% of the company’s stock.

Alliant Energy Price Performance

Shares of Alliant Energy stock opened at $64.53 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.99, a PEG ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $59.94 and its 200 day moving average price is $59.93. Alliant Energy Co. has a twelve month low of $46.80 and a twelve month high of $64.76.

Alliant Energy (NASDAQ:LNT) last issued its earnings results 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 business had revenue of $976.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.14 billion. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Alliant Energy Co. will post 3.23 earnings per share for the current year.

Alliant Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st were paid a $0.5075 dividend. This represents a $2.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.15%. 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 currently 75.46%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on LNT. Scotiabank cut shares of Alliant Energy from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $64.00 to $67.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Alliant Energy from $66.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $57.00 target price on shares of Alliant Energy in a research note on Monday, February 24th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target 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. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective on Alliant Energy from $61.00 to $59.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Alliant Energy has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $63.25.

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.