Updating Alliant Energy Corp., Symantec Corp., and Stanley Black & Decker Inc.

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ALLIANT ENERGY CORP. $45 (New York symbol LNT; Income Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares o/s: 231.5 million; Market cap: $10.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.0; Dividend yield: 3.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.alliantenergy.com) sells power and natural gas to 1.4 million clients in Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota. Alliant earned $199.9 million in the third quarter of 2018. That’s up 14.7% from $174.3 million a year earlier. Per-share earnings rose at a slightly slower rate of 13.3%, to $0.85 from $0.75, on more shares outstanding. Revenue improved 2.4%, to $928.6 million from $906.9 million. Those gains are mainly because warmer-than-usual weather spurred demand for electricity to run air conditioners. The company continues to convert its coal-fired plants to natural gas. It also plans to spend a total of $1.7 billion on new renewable-power projects between 2018 and 2022. Alliant will probably earn $2.15 a share for all of 2018. The stock trades at 20.9 times that estimate. The $1.34 dividend yields 3.0%. Alliant Energy is a buy. SYMANTEC CORP. $23 (Nasdaq symbol…