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

StockNews.com started coverage on shares of ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) in a research note issued to investors on Friday. The brokerage issued a hold rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

Separately, Sidoti raised shares of ALLETE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, ALLETE currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $61.33.

ALLETE Trading Up 0.0 %

ALLETE stock opened at $65.32 on Friday. ALLETE has a 12-month low of $55.86 and a 12-month high of $65.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.78 billion, a PE ratio of 20.94 and a beta of 0.80. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $64.71 and a 200-day simple moving average of $64.08. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by ($0.21). ALLETE had a return on equity of 5.99% and a net margin of 11.49%. The firm had revenue of $407.20 million during the quarter. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.49 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.5% on a year-over-year basis.

ALLETE Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th were given a $0.705 dividend. This is an increase from ALLETE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. This represents a $2.82 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.32%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 15th. ALLETE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 90.38%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ALLETE

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ALE. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of ALLETE by 0.5% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,459,692 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $157,888,000 after purchasing an additional 13,335 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake 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. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in ALLETE by 5.8% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 964,193 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $60,118,000 after acquiring an additional 52,499 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of ALLETE by 955.1% in the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 897,622 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $55,967,000 after purchasing an additional 812,548 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of ALLETE by 1.0% in the third 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 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.