Find out which stocks performed best in yesterday's range-bound market

Markets were flat yesterday, yet CMS Energy Corp, Alliant Energy Corp, Essential Utilities, Inc. showed impressive gains and made this list of top gainers.

Markets did not have a clear cut direction — Dow Jones shed 0.23% and closed at 33,900. Nasdaq closed at 12,157 after a flat day.

Current market events are being influenced by ambiguous macro data as United States Crude Oil Inventories fell short of the -1 million projections, with new data of -4.58 million.

Despite yesterday's flat session, several utilities stocks are managing to post notable gains. Take a look at the market's Top Gainers:

+1.75%: Alliant Energy opened at $54.95 yesterday before posting solid session gaining 1.75%

The public utility holding company went up to $55.29, gaining 1.75%. Alliant Energy is currently trading with a market cap of $13.89 billion with an average daily trading volume of 1.52 million shares. So far this year, it has been under-performing the S&P 500 by 8.1%.

Alliant Energy is scheduled to announce earnings results Wednesday. The consensus Earnings Per Share estimate is 0.68 and the consensus revenue estimate is $958 million.

CMS Energy | Up 1.8% to $61.61 yesterday

The US energy company is now trading 13.42% above the significant low ($53.36) it slumped to 6 months ago. So far this year, it has been doing worse than the S&P by 11.33%. Currently, CMC Energy, an energy company focused on US utitlities has a market capitalization of $17.97 billion with an average daily volume of 1.98 million shares. CMS Energy is forecasted to generate revenues of $1.68 billion and EPS of 39 cents.

Essential Utilities | Up 1.74% to $43.37 yesterday

The current year has not been the best for the US utility company as it lost 10.1% from its highest point of $52.37. So far this year, it has been doing worse than the Nasdaq by 24.63%. The company is currently trading with a market cap of $11.47 billion with an average daily volume of 1.13 million shares. Essential Utilities has a forecast of $573.22 million with an EPS of 45 cents.