Barclays Downgrades Alliant Energy (NASDAQ:LNT) to Underweight

Alliant Energy (NASDAQ:LNT - Get Free Report) was downgraded by stock analysts at Barclays from an "equal weight" rating to an "underweight" rating in a research note issued on Tuesday, MarketBeat reports. They currently have a $61.00 target price on the stock. Barclays's price objective would indicate a potential upside of 2.88% from the stock's previous close.

LNT has been the topic of a number of other research reports. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Alliant Energy from $60.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $57.00 price target on shares of Alliant Energy in a report on Monday, February 24th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on Alliant Energy from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Alliant Energy has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $63.75.

Alliant Energy Stock Down 2.5 %

Shares of LNT stock opened at $59.29 on Tuesday. Alliant Energy has a 1-year low of $49.05 and a 1-year high of $66.54. 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 company has a market cap of $15.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.52. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $62.36 and its 200 day moving average price is $60.82.

Alliant Energy (NASDAQ:LNT - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.68 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $976.00 million for 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, research analysts expect that Alliant Energy will post 3.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Alliant Energy

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alliant Energy in the third quarter valued at approximately $602,000. Arvest Bank Trust Division acquired a new position in shares of Alliant Energy during the 3rd quarter valued at about $2,063,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new stake in shares of Alliant Energy in the third quarter valued at about $72,000. Retirement Systems of Alabama grew its holdings in shares of Alliant Energy by 698.3% in the third quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 451,477 shares of the company's stock valued at $27,400,000 after purchasing an additional 394,920 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Alliant Energy by 9.4% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,183,765 shares of the company's stock worth $71,839,000 after purchasing an additional 101,387 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.90% of the company's stock.

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.

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