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

Equities researchers at StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) in a report issued on Thursday. The firm set a “hold” rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

Separately, Sidoti raised ALLETE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $62.00.

ALLETE Trading Up 0.3 %

ALE opened at $64.80 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.77 and a beta of 0.81. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $64.60 and its 200-day moving average is $64.00. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. ALLETE has a 52-week low of $55.86 and a 52-week high of $65.86.

ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 11.49% and a return on equity of 5.99%. The firm had revenue of $407.20 million during the quarter. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.49 earnings per share. ALLETE’s revenue was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp lifted its stake in ALLETE by 0.5% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,459,692 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $157,888,000 after purchasing an additional 13,335 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of ALLETE by 1.6% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,395,362 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $89,584,000 after purchasing an additional 21,850 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of ALLETE by 5.8% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 964,193 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $60,118,000 after buying an additional 52,499 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of 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 period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of ALLETE by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 766,343 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $49,192,000 after buying an additional 7,739 shares during the period. 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.