Principal Financial Group Inc. Has $11.58 Million Stock Position in ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lessened its holdings in ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) by 21.8% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 180,339 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 50,258 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in ALLETE were worth $11,576,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of ALE. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of ALLETE by 0.5% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,459,692 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $157,888,000 after buying an additional 13,335 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of ALLETE by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,395,362 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $89,584,000 after acquiring an additional 21,850 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 52,499 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC boosted its position in ALLETE by 955.1% during the second 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 period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in ALLETE by 1.0% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 766,343 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $49,192,000 after purchasing an additional 7,739 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.55% of the company’s stock.

ALLETE Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of ALLETE stock opened at $64.43 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $3.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.65 and a beta of 0.81. ALLETE, Inc. has a 1 year low of $55.86 and a 1 year high of $65.86. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $64.57 and its 200-day simple moving average is $63.96. 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 (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.99 by ($0.21). The company had revenue of $407.20 million during the quarter. ALLETE had a return on equity of 5.99% and a net margin of 11.49%. ALLETE’s revenue was up 7.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.49 EPS.

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 paid a dividend of $0.705 per share. This represents a $2.82 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.38%. This is a positive change from ALLETE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. ALLETE’s payout ratio is currently 90.38%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on ALE shares. Sidoti raised shares of ALLETE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of ALLETE in a report on Wednesday, December 25th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target 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.