ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) Stock Rating Upgraded by Sidoti

ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) was upgraded by Sidoti from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued on Monday, Zacks.com reports.

Separately, StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of ALLETE in a research report on Saturday. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $62.00.

ALLETE Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE ALE opened at $64.12 on Monday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $63.87 and its 200-day moving average price is $62.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 1.45. ALLETE has a 52-week low of $49.29 and a 52-week high of $65.86. The company has a market capitalization of $3.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.41 and a beta of 0.80.

ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.87 by ($0.30). The firm had revenue of $354.50 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $547.24 million. ALLETE had a net margin of 14.36% and a return on equity of 7.07%. ALLETE’s quarterly revenue was down 33.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.90 EPS.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ALLETE

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. UBS Group AG lifted its stake in shares of ALLETE by 41.0% in the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 113,570 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $6,946,000 after buying an additional 33,029 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of ALLETE by 139.4% in the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 699 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 407 shares during the last quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC bought a new stake in ALLETE during the fourth quarter worth $508,000. Magellan Asset Management Ltd raised its position in ALLETE by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Magellan Asset Management Ltd now owns 47,862 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,927,000 after buying an additional 645 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quadrature Capital Ltd lifted its stake in ALLETE by 148.2% during the 4th quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 17,041 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,043,000 after acquiring an additional 10,175 shares in the last quarter. 76.55% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About ALLETE

ALLETE, Inc operates as an energy company. The company operates through Regulated Operations, ALLETE Clean Energy, and Corporate and Other segments. It generates electricity from coal-fired, biomass co-fired / natural gas, hydroelectric, wind, and solar. In addition, the company provides regulated utility electric services in northwestern Wisconsin to approximately 15,000 electric customers, 13,000 natural gas customers, and 10,000 water customers, as well as regulated utility electric services in northeastern Minnesota to approximately 150,000 retail customers and 14 non-affiliated municipal customers.