Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank Raises Stock Holdings in ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE)

Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its holdings in ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) by 6.5% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 10,461 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 639 shares during the quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank’s holdings in ALLETE were worth $671,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in ALE. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC acquired a new stake in ALLETE in the 3rd quarter valued at $38,000. UMB Bank n.a. grew its position in shares of ALLETE by 261.0% in 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 during the period. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of ALLETE in the second quarter valued at about $74,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of ALLETE during the second quarter worth about $75,000. Finally, Summit Securities Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of ALLETE during the 2nd quarter worth about $158,000. 76.55% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com started coverage on ALLETE in a report on Sunday, December 1st. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Sidoti upgraded 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, ALLETE currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $62.00.

ALLETE Stock Down 0.3 %

ALE stock opened at $64.54 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $3.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.69 and a beta of 0.81. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $64.47 and a two-hundred day moving average of $63.78. ALLETE, Inc. has a 12 month low of $55.86 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by ($0.21). The company 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 business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.49 EPS.

ALLETE Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th were given a dividend of $0.705 per share. This is a boost from ALLETE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. This represents a $2.82 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.37%. ALLETE’s payout ratio is presently 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.