RWC Asset Management LLP Purchases New Stake in Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT)

RWC Asset Management LLP acquired a new position in shares of Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 106,147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,278,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in shares of Alliant Energy by 30.0% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,705 shares of the company’s stock valued at $164,000 after acquiring an additional 625 shares during the last quarter. Eastern Bank purchased a new position in Alliant Energy during the third quarter worth about $30,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Alliant Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at about $21,400,000. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Alliant Energy by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 26,862 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,630,000 after buying an additional 724 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in shares of Alliant Energy by 71.2% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 6,956 shares of the company’s stock worth $422,000 after buying an additional 2,894 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on LNT shares. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on Alliant Energy from $65.00 to $61.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 4th. Barclays decreased their price target on Alliant Energy from $61.00 to $59.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Alliant Energy from $66.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Scotiabank cut shares of Alliant Energy from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $64.00 to $67.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $63.39.

Alliant Energy Price Performance

LNT opened at $62.81 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $16.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.35, 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 stock’s 50-day moving average price is $59.44 and its 200 day moving average price is $59.71. Alliant Energy Co. has a 12-month low of $46.80 and a 12-month high of $64.19.

Alliant Energy (NASDAQ:LNT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $0.70 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 year.

Alliant Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st were given a dividend of $0.5075 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. This represents a $2.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.23%. This is a positive change from Alliant Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. Alliant Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.