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

StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) in a research report report published on Tuesday. The brokerage issued a hold rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

Separately, Sidoti upgraded shares of ALLETE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Four 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.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $62.00.

ALLETE Trading Up 0.0 %

NYSE:ALE opened at $64.68 on Tuesday. 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 firm has a 50-day moving average of $64.55 and a 200-day moving average of $63.89. The company has a market cap of $3.74 billion, a PE ratio of 20.73 and a beta of 0.81. ALLETE has a one year low of $55.86 and a one year high of $65.86.

ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.99 by ($0.21). The business 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%. ALLETE’s quarterly revenue was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.49 earnings per share.

ALLETE Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, December 1st. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th were issued a dividend of $0.705 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 15th. This is a boost from ALLETE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. This represents a $2.82 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.36%. ALLETE’s payout ratio is 90.38%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in ALLETE by 955.1% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 897,622 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $55,967,000 after acquiring an additional 812,548 shares during the last quarter. Alpine Associates Management Inc. purchased a new position in ALLETE in the second quarter valued at about $21,985,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its stake in ALLETE by 6,668.6% in the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 239,204 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $14,941,000 after acquiring an additional 235,670 shares during the last quarter. Water Island Capital LLC purchased a new position in ALLETE in the second quarter valued at about $11,583,000. Finally, Gabelli Funds LLC boosted its stake in ALLETE by 59.1% in the second quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 441,564 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $27,532,000 after acquiring an additional 164,064 shares during the last quarter. 76.55% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.