Retirement Systems of Alabama Sells 114,449 Shares of ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE)

Retirement Systems of Alabama lowered its position in shares of ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) by 62.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 70,157 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 114,449 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabama owned about 0.12% of ALLETE worth $4,503,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of ALE. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC bought a new stake in ALLETE in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $38,000. UMB Bank n.a. raised its stake in shares of ALLETE by 261.0% during the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,083 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $70,000 after acquiring an additional 783 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of ALLETE during the second quarter worth approximately $74,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of ALLETE in the 2nd quarter valued at $75,000. Finally, Summit Securities Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of ALLETE in the 2nd quarter valued at $158,000. 76.55% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ALE has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Sidoti upgraded shares of ALLETE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on ALLETE in a report on Tuesday. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $62.00.

ALLETE Trading Up 0.4 %

ALE opened at $64.60 on Friday. ALLETE, Inc. has a one year low of $55.86 and a one 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. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $64.56 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $63.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.71 and a beta of 0.81.

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

ALLETE Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, December 1st. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th were given a dividend of $0.705 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. This represents a $2.82 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.37%. This is a boost from ALLETE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. ALLETE’s payout ratio is currently 90.38%.

ALLETE 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.