Town & Country Bank & Trust CO dba First Bankers Trust CO Reduces Stock Position in Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT)

Town & Country Bank & Trust CO dba First Bankers Trust CO reduced its holdings in shares of Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT) by 46.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 28,924 shares of the company’s stock after selling 25,555 shares during the quarter. Town & Country Bank & Trust CO dba First Bankers Trust CO’s holdings in Alliant Energy were worth $1,711,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Public Sector Pension Investment Board raised its stake in Alliant Energy by 50.8% during the second quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 43,516 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,215,000 after buying an additional 14,653 shares in the last quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. boosted its holdings in Alliant Energy by 17.1% in the second quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 115,016 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,462,000 after purchasing an additional 16,768 shares during the period. MBB Public Markets I LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alliant Energy during the second quarter worth $916,000. Millennium Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Alliant Energy by 2,141.3% in the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 180,402 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,182,000 after buying an additional 172,353 shares during the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its stake in Alliant Energy by 3.1% during the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 552,836 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,139,000 after acquiring an additional 16,561 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LNT has been the subject of a number of research reports. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on Alliant Energy from $65.00 to $61.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Scotiabank downgraded shares of Alliant Energy from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $64.00 to $67.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Alliant Energy from $66.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 4th. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Alliant Energy from $61.00 to $59.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Alliant Energy from $52.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Alliant Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $63.39.

Alliant Energy Stock Performance

Shares of LNT opened at $60.00 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $60.13 and its 200-day moving average is $59.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.26, a P/E/G ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.60. Alliant Energy Co. has a 12-month low of $46.80 and a 12-month high of $64.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.72.

Alliant Energy (NASDAQ:LNT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.05. Alliant Energy had a return on equity of 10.56% and a net margin of 16.66%. The firm had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.08 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.05 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Alliant Energy Co. will post 3.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alliant Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be given a dividend of $0.5075 per share. This represents a $2.03 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.38%. This is an increase from Alliant Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 31st. Alliant Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 74.42%.

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.