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

Analysts at StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) in a research note issued to investors on Friday. 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 research report on Monday, September 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, ALLETE currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $62.00.

ALLETE Trading Up 0.5 %

ALE stock opened at $65.28 on Friday. ALLETE has a 1-year low of $55.86 and a 1-year high of $65.86. The company has a current ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The business’s 50 day moving average is $64.71 and its 200-day moving average is $64.08. The firm has a market cap of $3.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.92 and a beta of 0.80.

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). ALLETE had a net margin of 11.49% and a return on equity of 5.99%. The company had revenue of $407.20 million during the quarter. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.49 EPS. ALLETE’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.5% on a year-over-year basis.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ALE. CWA Asset Management Group LLC raised its stake in shares of ALLETE by 13.5% in the fourth quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 19,613 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,271,000 after acquiring an additional 2,339 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in ALLETE by 9.8% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 65,056 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,190,000 after buying an additional 5,799 shares in the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in ALLETE during the 3rd quarter worth $282,000. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of ALLETE by 1.6% in the 3rd 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 during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC raised its position in shares of ALLETE by 187.1% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 100,079 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,425,000 after acquiring an additional 65,222 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.