Jefferies Financial Group Initiates Coverage on Alliant Energy (NASDAQ:LNT)

Equities researchers at Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Alliant Energy (NASDAQ:LNT) in a research report issued on Thursday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm set a “hold” rating and a $67.00 price target on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 12.19% from the company’s current price.

Several other research firms also recently commented on LNT. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised shares of Alliant Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $50.00 to $62.50 in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of Alliant Energy from $58.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Alliant Energy from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Alliant Energy from $56.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Alliant Energy from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $60.17.

Alliant Energy Price Performance

LNT stock opened at $59.72 on Thursday. Alliant Energy has a 12-month low of $45.15 and a 12-month high of $60.67. The company has a quick ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.31. The firm has a market cap of $15.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.72, a PEG ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.58. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $57.27 and its 200 day simple moving average is $52.62.

Alliant Energy (NASDAQ:LNT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported $0.57 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.64 by ($0.07). Alliant Energy had a net margin of 15.77% and a return on equity of 10.23%. The company had revenue of $894.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $897.03 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.64 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Alliant Energy will post 3.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Intech Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Alliant Energy by 604.0% in the first quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 72,768 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,668,000 after acquiring an additional 62,431 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Alliant Energy by 24.5% during the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 103,499 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,309,000 after buying an additional 20,371 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its stake in shares of Alliant Energy by 200.8% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 215,821 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,877,000 after buying an additional 144,077 shares in the last quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp lifted its stake in shares of Alliant Energy by 134.9% during the 4th quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp now owns 32,771 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,681,000 after buying an additional 18,822 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Forsta AP Fonden lifted its stake in shares of Alliant Energy by 36.3% during the 1st quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 70,600 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,558,000 after buying an additional 18,800 shares in the last quarter. 79.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.