Stephens Inc. AR Sells 133,084 Shares of Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT)

Stephens Inc. AR trimmed its holdings in Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT - Free Report) by 81.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 30,413 shares of the company's stock after selling 133,084 shares during the period. Stephens Inc. AR's holdings in Alliant Energy were worth $1,799,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in LNT. Point72 Asset Management L.P. lifted its position in shares of Alliant Energy by 92.7% in the third quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,604,272 shares of the company's stock valued at $97,363,000 after buying an additional 771,919 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC acquired a new stake in Alliant Energy during the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,225,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in Alliant Energy by 8.5% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 6,512,770 shares of the company's stock worth $395,260,000 after purchasing an additional 512,429 shares during the last quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama lifted its holdings in Alliant Energy by 698.3% during the 3rd quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 451,477 shares of the company's stock worth $27,400,000 after purchasing an additional 394,920 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Weiss Asset Management LP acquired a new stake in Alliant Energy during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $10,705,000. 79.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alliant Energy Price Performance

NASDAQ LNT traded up $0.23 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $61.33. The company had a trading volume of 2,146,163 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,362,455. The company has a market capitalization of $15.74 billion, a PE ratio of 23.77, a P/E/G ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $59.32 and a 200-day moving average price of $59.51. Alliant Energy Co. has a twelve month low of $46.80 and a twelve month high of $64.19.

Alliant Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.5075 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 31st. This represents a $2.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.31%. This is a boost from Alliant Energy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. Alliant Energy's payout ratio is 78.68%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LNT has been the subject of several research reports. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on Alliant Energy from $65.00 to $61.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 4th. Scotiabank cut Alliant Energy from a "sector outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $64.00 to $67.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Alliant Energy from $66.00 to $65.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on Alliant Energy from $61.00 to $59.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $63.39.

About Alliant Energy

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.