ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) Receives New Coverage from Analysts at StockNews.com

StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) in a report published on Thursday. The brokerage issued a hold rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

Separately, Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of ALLETE from $57.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Thursday, May 16th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, According to MarketBeat.com, ALLETE presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $62.00.

ALLETE Stock Performance

ALLETE stock opened at $63.79 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $63.73 and its 200-day moving average price is $61.70. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The company has a market cap of $3.68 billion, a PE ratio of 15.33 and a beta of 0.80. ALLETE has a twelve month low of $49.29 and a twelve month high of $65.86.

ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.57 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.87 by ($0.30). The company had revenue of $354.50 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $547.24 million. ALLETE had a return on equity of 7.07% and a net margin of 14.36%. The company’s revenue was down 33.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.90 earnings per share.

ALLETE Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 15th were issued a $0.7005 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.39%. ALLETE’s payout ratio is 67.79%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ALLETE

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of ALE. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of ALLETE by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 716,941 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $43,848,000 after purchasing an additional 22,139 shares during the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. bought a new stake in ALLETE during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in ALLETE by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 888,731 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $54,355,000 after buying an additional 24,690 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in ALLETE by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 267,075 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $16,334,000 after buying an additional 5,088 shares during the period. Finally, Boston Partners grew its stake in ALLETE by 23.6% in the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 19,120 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,169,000 after acquiring an additional 3,647 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.