ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) Coverage Initiated at StockNews.com

StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) in a research note released on Saturday. The firm issued a hold rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

Separately, Sidoti raised ALLETE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, ALLETE currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $62.00.

ALLETE Stock Performance

Shares of ALLETE stock opened at $64.87 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $3.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.79 and a beta of 0.80. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $64.33 and its 200 day moving average is $63.69. ALLETE has a 1 year low of $54.71 and a 1 year high of $65.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 1.45 and a quick ratio of 0.95.

ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by ($0.21). The firm had revenue of $407.20 million during the quarter. ALLETE had a return on equity of 5.99% and a net margin of 11.49%. ALLETE’s quarterly revenue was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.49 EPS.

ALLETE Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be given a dividend of $0.705 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $2.82 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.35%. This is a positive change from ALLETE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. ALLETE’s dividend payout ratio is presently 90.38%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ALLETE

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new stake in shares of ALLETE during the 3rd quarter valued at about $282,000. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in ALLETE by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,395,362 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $89,584,000 after acquiring an additional 21,850 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its holdings in ALLETE by 187.1% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 100,079 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,425,000 after acquiring an additional 65,222 shares in the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd purchased a new stake in ALLETE in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $779,000. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC increased its holdings in ALLETE by 107.8% in the 3rd quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 121,631 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $7,807,000 after acquiring an additional 63,091 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.55% of the company’s stock.

ALLETE Company Profile

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.