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

StockNews.com started coverage on shares of ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) in a report issued on Saturday morning. The firm issued a hold rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

ALLETE Price Performance

Shares of ALE opened at $64.36 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.72 billion, a PE ratio of 15.47 and a beta of 0.80. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $63.89 and its two-hundred day moving average is $62.25. ALLETE has a twelve month low of $49.29 and a twelve month 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.

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

ALLETE Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, September 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, August 15th were paid a $0.7005 dividend. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.35%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 15th. ALLETE’s payout ratio is currently 67.79%.

Institutional Trading of ALLETE

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of ALLETE by 139.4% in the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 699 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 407 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of ALLETE by 4,157.1% in the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 1,192 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $71,000 after purchasing an additional 1,164 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of ALLETE in the second quarter valued at approximately $74,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. purchased a new position in shares of ALLETE during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $75,000. Finally, Clear Street Markets LLC acquired a new position in shares of ALLETE during the 4th quarter worth approximately $92,000. 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.