Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT) Shares Sold by Westwood Holdings Group Inc.

Westwood Holdings Group Inc. cut its stake in shares of Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT) by 53.2% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 275,040 shares of the company’s stock after selling 312,989 shares during the period. Westwood Holdings Group Inc.’s holdings in Alliant Energy were worth $16,266,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in LNT. Two Sigma Investments LP purchased a new stake in shares of Alliant Energy in the 4th quarter worth about $938,000. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of Alliant Energy by 14.1% in the 4th quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 5,023 shares of the company’s stock worth $297,000 after buying an additional 622 shares in the last quarter. Sagefield Capital LP boosted its position in shares of Alliant Energy by 23.4% in the 4th quarter. Sagefield Capital LP now owns 87,909 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,199,000 after buying an additional 16,654 shares in the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its position in shares of Alliant Energy by 7.4% in the 4th quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 484,405 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,649,000 after buying an additional 33,496 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Hong Kong Ltd boosted its position in shares of Alliant Energy by 41.2% in the 4th quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd now owns 8,494 shares of the company’s stock worth $502,000 after buying an additional 2,479 shares in the last quarter. 79.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LNT has been the topic of several recent research reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Alliant Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of Alliant Energy from $66.00 to $64.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Guggenheim reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $57.00 price objective on shares of Alliant Energy in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Barclays lowered shares of Alliant Energy from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $59.00 to $61.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Alliant Energy from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $63.55.

Alliant Energy Price Performance

NASDAQ:LNT opened at $63.09 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $16.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.58. 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 company’s 50-day moving average is $61.68 and its two-hundred day moving average is $60.92. Alliant Energy Co. has a 12-month low of $49.05 and a 12-month high of $66.54.

Alliant Energy (NASDAQ:LNT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.71 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $1.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.09 billion. Alliant Energy had a net margin of 17.33% and a return on equity of 11.39%. The company’s revenue was up 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.62 EPS. Research analysts expect that Alliant Energy Co. will post 3.23 EPS for the current year.

Alliant Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th were issued a dividend of $0.5075 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a $2.03 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.22%. Alliant Energy’s payout ratio is currently 70.00%.

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.