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

Investment analysts at StockNews.com began coverage on shares of ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) in a report released on Friday. The brokerage set a “hold” rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

ALLETE Stock Performance

Shares of ALLETE stock opened at $63.87 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $63.83 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $61.94. ALLETE has a 1-year low of $49.29 and a 1-year high of $65.86. The company has a current ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The company has a market cap of $3.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.35 and a beta of 0.80.

ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.87 by ($0.30). ALLETE had a return on equity of 7.07% and a net margin of 14.36%. The business had revenue of $354.50 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $547.24 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.90 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 33.6% on a year-over-year basis.

Institutional Trading of ALLETE

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of ALLETE during the second quarter worth approximately $74,000. Water Island Capital LLC acquired a new position in ALLETE during the second quarter worth $11,583,000. Creative Planning lifted its stake in shares of ALLETE by 204.1% in the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 20,972 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,308,000 after buying an additional 14,076 shares in the last quarter. Algert Global LLC lifted its stake in shares of ALLETE by 16.5% in the second quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 40,988 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,556,000 after buying an additional 5,808 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC grew 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 valued at $55,967,000 after buying an additional 812,548 shares during the last quarter. 76.55% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.