Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE)

Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC lowered its stake in ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) by 8.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 282,220 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 25,948 shares during the period. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC’s holdings in ALLETE were worth $18,288,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of ALLETE by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 766,343 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $49,192,000 after purchasing an additional 7,739 shares during the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. raised its holdings in ALLETE by 28.3% in the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 129,635 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,321,000 after buying an additional 28,612 shares during the last quarter. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. lifted its stake in shares of ALLETE by 100.0% in the third quarter. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. now owns 80,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,135,000 after buying an additional 40,000 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of ALLETE by 0.5% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,459,692 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $157,888,000 after buying an additional 13,335 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of ALLETE during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $380,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.55% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, StockNews.com started coverage on ALLETE in a research report on Friday, January 10th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock.

ALLETE Price Performance

NYSE ALE opened at $65.47 on Wednesday. ALLETE, Inc. has a one year low of $56.66 and a one year high of $65.99. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $65.55 and a 200 day moving average of $64.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 1.08. The company has a market capitalization of $3.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.12 and a beta of 0.74.

ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The utilities provider reported $0.87 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.02 by ($0.15). ALLETE had a net margin of 11.72% and a return on equity of 5.97%.

ALLETE Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a $0.73 dividend. This is an increase from ALLETE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. This represents a $2.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.46%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. ALLETE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 94.19%.

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.