ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) Now Covered by Analysts at StockNews.com

StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) in a report published on Sunday. The brokerage issued 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 research report on Monday, September 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, ALLETE presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $62.00.

ALLETE Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ALE opened at $64.88 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.79 and a beta of 0.80. ALLETE has a 1-year low of $54.90 and a 1-year high of $65.86. The company’s fifty day moving average is $64.42 and its two-hundred day moving average is $63.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.45.

ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) last issued its 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 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 for the quarter was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.49 earnings per share.

ALLETE Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, December 1st. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th were given a $0.705 dividend. This represents a $2.82 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.35%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 15th. This is a positive change from ALLETE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. ALLETE’s dividend payout ratio is currently 90.38%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ALLETE

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in ALE. State Street Corp lifted its stake in 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 in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in ALLETE by 1.6% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,395,362 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $89,584,000 after buying an additional 21,850 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in ALLETE by 5.8% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 964,193 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $60,118,000 after buying an additional 52,499 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC lifted 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 purchasing an additional 812,548 shares in the last quarter. 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. Institutional investors own 76.55% of the company’s stock.

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.