American Century Companies Inc. Lowers Holdings in Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT)

American Century Companies Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT) by 5.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 59,964 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,456 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc.’s holdings in Alliant Energy were worth $3,546,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Park Avenue Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alliant Energy during the fourth quarter worth about $257,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in Alliant Energy in the fourth quarter worth approximately $29,000. National Bank of Canada FI grew its holdings in Alliant Energy by 184.7% during the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 202,008 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,259,000 after acquiring an additional 131,053 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alliant Energy in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $213,000. Finally, Sound Income Strategies LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alliant Energy by 2,024.4% in the 4th quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 4,525 shares of the company’s stock valued at $268,000 after purchasing an additional 4,312 shares in the last quarter. 79.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LNT has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Guggenheim reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $57.00 target price on shares of Alliant Energy in a research note on Monday, February 24th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Alliant Energy from $60.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, February 24th. Scotiabank downgraded Alliant Energy from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $64.00 to $67.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on Alliant Energy from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $63.55.

Alliant Energy Stock Down 5.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ LNT opened at $61.36 on Monday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $62.16 and a 200 day moving average price of $60.82. The stock has a market cap of $15.75 billion, a PE ratio of 22.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33. Alliant Energy Co. has a 52-week low of $47.23 and a 52-week high of $66.54.

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

Alliant Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be given a dividend of $0.5075 per share. This represents a $2.03 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 30th. Alliant Energy’s payout ratio is currently 75.46%.

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.