Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT) Shares Sold by Epoch Investment Partners Inc.

Epoch Investment Partners Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT - Free Report) by 7.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 253,781 shares of the company's stock after selling 20,369 shares during the quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. owned about 0.10% of Alliant Energy worth $15,009,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Commerce Bank boosted its holdings in Alliant Energy by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 31,956 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,890,000 after purchasing an additional 1,587 shares in the last quarter. Capital Square LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alliant Energy by 31.5% in the fourth quarter. Capital Square LLC now owns 4,530 shares of the company's stock valued at $266,000 after buying an additional 1,084 shares in the last quarter. Farringdon Capital Ltd. acquired a new position in Alliant Energy during the fourth quarter worth $494,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its position in Alliant Energy by 74.5% in the fourth quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 22,142 shares of the company's stock worth $1,309,000 after acquiring an additional 9,455 shares in the last quarter. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new stake in Alliant Energy in the fourth quarter valued at $534,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.90% of the company's stock.

Alliant Energy Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:LNT traded down $0.57 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $60.76. The company's stock had a trading volume of 394,596 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,602,748. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $62.36 and a 200 day moving average price of $60.83. Alliant Energy Co. has a 1 year low of $49.05 and a 1 year high of $66.54. The firm has a market cap of $15.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.56, 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 (NASDAQ:LNT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.68 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $976.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.14 billion. Alliant Energy had a net margin of 17.33% and a return on equity of 11.39%. Research analysts forecast that Alliant Energy Co. will post 3.23 EPS for the current year.

Alliant Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be issued a $0.5075 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a $2.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.34%. Alliant Energy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 75.46%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on LNT. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on shares of Alliant Energy from $66.00 to $64.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Barclays lowered Alliant Energy from an "equal weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $59.00 to $61.00 in a research note on Tuesday. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Alliant Energy from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Guggenheim restated a "neutral" rating and set a $57.00 target price on shares of Alliant Energy in a research report on Monday, February 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $63.55.

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.