US Bancorp DE Sells 2,795 Shares of ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE)

US Bancorp DE cut its position in shares of ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) by 15.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,841 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 2,795 shares during the quarter. US Bancorp DE’s holdings in ALLETE were worth $953,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 783 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of ALLETE by 4,157.1% during 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. bought a new stake in shares of ALLETE during the second quarter valued at approximately $74,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of ALLETE during the second quarter valued at approximately $75,000. Finally, Covestor Ltd boosted its position in shares of 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 in the last quarter. 76.55% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

ALLETE Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE:ALE opened at $65.18 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $64.11 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $63.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.89 and a beta of 0.80. ALLETE, Inc. has a 12-month low of $53.14 and a 12-month high of $65.86. The company has a current ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51.

ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) last posted its quarterly 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). ALLETE had a return on equity of 5.99% and a net margin of 11.49%. The business had revenue of $407.20 million during the quarter. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.49 EPS. ALLETE’s revenue was up 7.5% on a year-over-year basis.

ALLETE Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be paid a $0.705 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $2.82 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.33%. This is a boost from ALLETE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. ALLETE’s payout ratio is currently 90.38%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

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.