Alliant Energy (NASDAQ:LNT) Rating Increased to Buy at Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Alliant Energy (NASDAQ:LNT) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report issued on Tuesday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm currently has $71.00 price objective on the stock, up from their previous price objective of $70.00.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on LNT. Barclays downgraded Alliant Energy from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and raised their price target for the company from $59.00 to $61.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Alliant Energy from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of Alliant Energy from $66.00 to $64.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Guggenheim reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $57.00 price target on shares of Alliant Energy in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Alliant Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $63.95.

Alliant Energy Stock Up 0.1%

LNT stock opened at $63.16 on Tuesday. Alliant Energy has a 1-year low of $49.05 and a 1-year high of $66.54. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $61.70 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $60.93. 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 has a market cap of $16.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.48, a P/E/G ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.58.

Alliant Energy (NASDAQ:LNT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.71 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $1.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.09 billion. Alliant Energy had a net margin of 17.33% and a return on equity of 11.39%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.62 EPS. Analysts expect that Alliant Energy will post 3.23 EPS for the current year.

Alliant Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 30th were issued a $0.5075 dividend. This represents a $2.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 30th. Alliant Energy’s payout ratio is 70.00%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Park Avenue Securities LLC purchased a new position in Alliant Energy in the 4th quarter worth approximately $257,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Alliant Energy in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alliant Energy in the 4th quarter worth approximately $213,000. Korea Investment CORP boosted its stake in Alliant Energy by 62.1% during the fourth quarter. Korea Investment CORP now owns 190,875 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,288,000 after buying an additional 73,101 shares during the period. Finally, Sound Income Strategies LLC lifted its stake in Alliant Energy by 2,024.4% in the fourth quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 4,525 shares of the company’s stock worth $268,000 after purchasing an additional 4,312 shares during the last quarter. 79.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.