Yahoo Finance Alliant Energy's (LNT) to Gain From Capital Investment Plans
Alliant Energy Corporation’s LNT earnings are expected to benefit from stable state economies in its service areas and compelling prospects for new electric generation capacity.
This Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) utility is a promising investment option as it continues to boost shareholders’ value.
Systematic Investment
The company plans to invest $6.7 billion over the next four years to strengthen the electric and gas distribution network as well as add natural gas and renewable assets to its generation portfolio. Out of the total outlay, the company plans to invest nearly $3.2 billion during the next four years to strengthen electric and natural gas distribution as well as generation portfolio.
Growth Projections
Earnings estimates for 2019 and 2020 rose 5.99% and 6.09% on a year-over-year basis to $2.30 and $2.44 per share, respectively. The company’s long-term (three to five years) earnings growth is pegged at 5.49%.
The company currently targets long-term annual earnings growth in the range of 5-7% from 2018 levels. We expect Alliant Energy to keep up the good performance till 2022 on the back of its capital expenditure plan, modest sales growth and constructive regulatory outcomes.
Price Performance
In the past year, shares of Alliant Energy have rallied 23.9% compared with the industry’s growth of 13.7%.
Dividend Payment
Alliant Energy has a long-term dividend payout target of 60-70%. The company’s quarterly dividend rate is 35.5 cents, which resulted in an annualized dividend rate of $1.42 per share. For 2020, the board of directors has approved a 7% increase in annual dividend rate. The new annual dividend will be $1.52 per share. The current dividend yield of the company is 2.64%, higher than the S&P 500 average of 1.8%.
Other Stocks to Consider
Some other top-ranked stocks in the industry are The AES Corporation AES, FirstEnergy Corporation FE and NorthWestern Corporation NWE. While AES Corporation sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), FirstEnergy and Northwestern hold a Zacks Rank #2. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
AES Corporation, FirstEnergy and NorthWestern delivered average positive earnings surprise of 4.68%, 2.87% and 10.49%, respectively, in the last four quarters.
Long-term earnings growth for AES Corporation, FirstEnergy and NorthWestern is pegged at 8.49%, 6% and 2.80%, respectively.
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The AES Corporation (AES) : Free Stock Analysis Report
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