California Public Employees Retirement System Sells 17,949 Shares of Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT)

California Public Employees Retirement System lessened its stake in Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT) by 1.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,582,923 shares of the company’s stock after selling 17,949 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System owned approximately 0.62% of Alliant Energy worth $81,204,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Alliant Energy by 3.3% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 8,689,427 shares of the company’s stock worth $421,003,000 after acquiring an additional 278,406 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in Alliant Energy by 4.8% during the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,325,792 shares of the company’s stock worth $112,685,000 after acquiring an additional 105,723 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Alliant Energy by 2.1% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,055,089 shares of the company’s stock worth $99,569,000 after acquiring an additional 41,291 shares during the period. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. lifted its holdings in Alliant Energy by 4.0% during the third quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 1,343,631 shares of the company’s stock worth $65,099,000 after acquiring an additional 52,184 shares during the period. Finally, Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. lifted its holdings in Alliant Energy by 289.7% during the third quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 976,308 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,302,000 after acquiring an additional 725,800 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Scotiabank dropped their price target on Alliant Energy from $57.00 to $53.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Barclays restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $53.00 target price (up from $50.00) on shares of Alliant Energy in a research note on Tuesday, January 2nd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Alliant Energy from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Finally, Bank of America lowered their target price on Alliant Energy from $55.00 to $54.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Alliant Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $51.36.

Alliant Energy Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LNT opened at $50.37 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $12.90 billion, a PE ratio of 18.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 0.55. Alliant Energy Co. has a fifty-two week low of $45.15 and a fifty-two week high of $56.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a current ratio of 0.55. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $48.84 and a 200-day moving average of $49.53.

Alliant Energy (NASDAQ:LNT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 16th. The company reported $0.48 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.55 by ($0.07). The company had revenue of $961.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.25 billion. Alliant Energy had a net margin of 17.46% and a return on equity of 10.85%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.46 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Alliant Energy Co. will post 3.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Alliant Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 30th will be given a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.81%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 29th. Alliant Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 69.06%.

Insider Activity

In other Alliant Energy news, CEO Lisa M. Barton bought 1,100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $48.56 per share, for a total transaction of $53,416.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 36,444 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,769,720.64. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.31% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.