StockNews.com Begins Coverage on ALLETE (NYSE:ALE)

Research analysts at StockNews.com started coverage on shares of ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) in a research note issued to investors on Thursday. The firm set a “hold” rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

Separately, Sidoti upgraded shares of ALLETE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, ALLETE has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $62.00.

ALLETE Stock Performance

ALLETE stock opened at $65.18 on Thursday. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $3.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.89 and a beta of 0.80. ALLETE has a 1-year low of $53.14 and a 1-year high of $65.86. The company’s 50-day moving average is $64.11 and its 200 day moving average is $63.38.

ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) last issued 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 business had revenue of $407.20 million for the quarter. ALLETE had a return on equity of 5.99% and a net margin of 11.49%. The business’s revenue was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.49 earnings per share.

Institutional Trading of ALLETE

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in ALLETE by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,615,496 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $394,548,000 after acquiring an additional 35,992 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of ALLETE by 5.8% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 964,193 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $60,118,000 after purchasing an additional 52,499 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of ALLETE by 955.1% during the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 897,622 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $55,967,000 after purchasing an additional 812,548 shares during the period. Gabelli Funds LLC lifted its holdings in shares of ALLETE by 59.1% during the second quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 441,564 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $27,532,000 after purchasing an additional 164,064 shares during the period. Finally, Alpine Associates Management Inc. increased its holdings in ALLETE by 12.9% in the 3rd quarter. Alpine Associates Management Inc. now owns 398,047 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $25,551,000 after buying an additional 45,447 shares during the period. 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.