Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT) Increases Dividend to $0.51 Per Share

Alliant Energy Co. (NASDAQ:LNT) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, January 17th,RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be given a dividend of 0.5075 per share on Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.45%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 31st. This is a boost from Alliant Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48.

Alliant Energy has raised its dividend payment by an average of 6.0% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 21 consecutive years. Alliant Energy has a payout ratio of 59.0% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Alliant Energy to earn $3.24 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.03 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 62.7%.

Alliant Energy Stock Performance

Shares of Alliant Energy stock opened at $58.87 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $60.06 and a 200 day simple moving average of $59.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.82, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.72. Alliant Energy has a one year low of $46.80 and a one year high of $64.19.

Alliant Energy (NASDAQ:LNT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.05. Alliant Energy had a return on equity of 10.56% and a net margin of 16.66%. The firm had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.08 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.05 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Alliant Energy will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Alliant Energy from $52.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Scotiabank cut Alliant Energy from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $64.00 to $67.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Alliant Energy from $61.00 to $59.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of Alliant Energy from $65.00 to $61.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Alliant Energy from $66.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 4th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $63.39.

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.