Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. Decreases Position in ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE)

Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. decreased its stake in ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) by 19.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 4,081 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 999 shares during the period. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc.’s holdings in ALLETE were worth $262,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position 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 buying an additional 52,499 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC boosted its position in shares of ALLETE by 955.1% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 897,622 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $55,967,000 after buying an additional 812,548 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted 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 buying an additional 7,739 shares during the period. Gabelli Funds LLC boosted its position in shares of ALLETE by 59.1% in the second quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 441,564 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $27,532,000 after buying an additional 164,064 shares during the period. Finally, Alpine Associates Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of ALLETE by 12.9% in the third 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.55% of the company’s stock.

ALLETE Trading Down 0.0 %

Shares of NYSE ALE opened at $64.87 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $64.35 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $63.70. ALLETE, Inc. has a 52-week low of $54.90 and a 52-week high of $65.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.79 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51.

ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by ($0.21). The company 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.49 EPS.

ALLETE Increases Dividend

The business 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. This represents a $2.82 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.35%. This is a boost from ALLETE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. ALLETE’s dividend payout ratio is presently 90.38%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ALE has been the subject of several analyst reports. Sidoti raised ALLETE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. StockNews.com started coverage on ALLETE in a report on Saturday, November 23rd. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $62.00.

About ALLETE

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.