Bahl & Gaynor Inc. Has $23.82 Million Stock Holdings in Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT)

Bahl & Gaynor Inc. grew its stake in Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT) by 13.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 402,805 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 48,641 shares during the period. Bahl & Gaynor Inc.’s holdings in Alliant Energy were worth $23,822,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in LNT. Natixis Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Alliant Energy by 14.7% during the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 196,318 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,915,000 after buying an additional 25,161 shares during the period. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG acquired a new position in Alliant Energy during the third quarter valued at approximately $4,742,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Alliant Energy by 9.4% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,183,765 shares of the company’s stock valued at $71,839,000 after purchasing an additional 101,387 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Alliant Energy by 0.6% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,216,475 shares of the company’s stock valued at $134,518,000 after purchasing an additional 14,225 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Park Avenue Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of Alliant Energy during the fourth quarter worth $257,000. 79.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently commented on LNT. Barclays dropped their price objective 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. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Alliant Energy from $60.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Guggenheim restated a “neutral” rating and set a $57.00 target price on shares of Alliant Energy in a report on Monday, February 24th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of 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 boosted their price objective for the company from $64.00 to $67.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $63.25.

Alliant Energy Trading Up 2.3 %

Alliant Energy stock opened at $66.04 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.72. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $60.08 and a 200-day moving average of $60.05. The company has a market cap of $16.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.60. Alliant Energy Co. has a one year low of $47.23 and a one year high of $66.15.

Alliant Energy (NASDAQ:LNT) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $976.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.14 billion. Alliant Energy had a return on equity of 11.39% and a net margin of 17.33%. On average, equities analysts expect that Alliant Energy Co. will post 3.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alliant Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st were paid a $0.5075 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 31st. This represents a $2.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.07%. This is a boost from Alliant Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. Alliant Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.