Principal Financial Group Inc. Has $11.58 Million Stake in ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE)

Principal Financial Group Inc. reduced its position in shares of ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) by 21.8% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 180,339 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 50,258 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in ALLETE were worth $11,576,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of ALLETE by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,615,496 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $394,548,000 after acquiring an additional 35,992 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in ALLETE by 5.8% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 964,193 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $60,118,000 after purchasing an additional 52,499 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC increased its stake in ALLETE by 955.1% in the 2nd 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. Gabelli Funds LLC lifted its position in ALLETE by 59.1% during the 2nd quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 441,564 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $27,532,000 after buying an additional 164,064 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of ALLETE by 9.9% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 385,750 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $24,052,000 after buying an additional 34,810 shares during the last quarter. 76.55% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Sidoti raised ALLETE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on ALLETE in a research report on Friday. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, ALLETE presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $62.00.

ALLETE Stock Down 0.3 %

ALLETE stock opened at $64.36 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 1.45 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The company’s 50-day moving average is $64.24 and its 200-day moving average is $63.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.72 billion, a PE ratio of 20.63 and a beta of 0.80. ALLETE, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $54.71 and a fifty-two week high of $65.86.

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 return on equity of 5.99% and a net margin of 11.49%. The business had revenue of $407.20 million for the quarter. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.49 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 7.5% on a year-over-year basis.

ALLETE Increases Dividend

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

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.