PNC Financial Services Group Inc. Has $2.33 Million Stake in ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE)

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. reduced its holdings in ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 36,278 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 986 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. owned 0.06% of ALLETE worth $2,329,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 52,499 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC increased its position in shares of ALLETE by 955.1% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 897,622 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $55,967,000 after purchasing an additional 812,548 shares during the last quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC raised its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 164,064 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of ALLETE by 9.9% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 385,750 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $24,052,000 after buying an additional 34,810 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alpine Associates Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of ALLETE in the second quarter valued at $21,985,000. 76.55% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ALE has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of ALLETE in a research note on Saturday. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Sidoti upgraded ALLETE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $62.00.

ALLETE Stock Up 0.1 %

ALLETE stock opened at $65.00 on Tuesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $64.33 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $63.69. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The stock has a market cap of $3.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.83 and a beta of 0.80. ALLETE, Inc. has a twelve month low of $54.71 and a twelve month high of $65.86.

ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) last announced its 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). The firm had revenue of $407.20 million for the quarter. ALLETE had a return on equity of 5.99% and a net margin of 11.49%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.49 EPS.

ALLETE Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Investors 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 is an increase from ALLETE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. This represents a $2.82 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.34%. ALLETE’s dividend payout ratio is 90.38%.

About ALLETE

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.