Assetmark Inc. Sells 31,779 Shares of ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE)

Assetmark Inc. lowered its stake in ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) by 83.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,413 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 31,779 shares during the quarter. Assetmark Inc.’s holdings in ALLETE were worth $412,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in ALE. UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in ALLETE by 261.0% during the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,083 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $70,000 after buying an additional 783 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of ALLETE by 4,157.1% in the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 1,192 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $71,000 after purchasing an additional 1,164 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new position in ALLETE in the 2nd quarter worth $74,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. purchased a new position in ALLETE during the second quarter valued at $75,000. Finally, Covestor Ltd grew its holdings in ALLETE by 1,118.1% during the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 2,156 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $129,000 after purchasing an additional 1,979 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.55% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on ALE. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of ALLETE in a research note on Friday. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Sidoti upgraded shares of ALLETE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $62.00.

ALLETE Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of ALE opened at $64.36 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.63 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 1.45 and a quick ratio of 0.95. ALLETE, Inc. has a 1 year low of $54.71 and a 1 year high of $65.86. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $64.24 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $63.59.

ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.99 by ($0.21). The company had revenue of $407.20 million for the quarter. ALLETE had a net margin of 11.49% and a return on equity of 5.99%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.49 earnings per share.

ALLETE Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th will be given a $0.705 dividend. This is an increase from ALLETE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. This represents a $2.82 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. ALLETE’s payout ratio is currently 90.38%.

ALLETE 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.