ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) Now Covered by Analysts at StockNews.com

StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) in a research report sent to investors on Thursday. The firm issued a hold rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

Separately, Sidoti raised ALLETE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $62.00.

ALLETE Price Performance

ALE opened at $64.90 on Thursday. 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 company’s 50-day moving average price is $64.61 and its 200 day moving average price is $64.01. ALLETE has a fifty-two week low of $55.86 and a fifty-two week high of $65.86. The firm has a market cap of $3.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.80 and a beta of 0.81.

ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) last announced 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). ALLETE had a net margin of 11.49% and a return on equity of 5.99%. The firm had revenue of $407.20 million for the quarter. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.49 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.5% on a year-over-year basis.

ALLETE Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th were given a $0.705 dividend. This represents a $2.82 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.35%. This is a boost from ALLETE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. ALLETE’s dividend payout ratio is currently 90.38%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ALLETE

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in shares of ALLETE by 9.8% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 65,056 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,190,000 after buying an additional 5,799 shares in the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new stake in shares of ALLETE during the third quarter worth $282,000. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of ALLETE by 1.6% during the third 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 during the period. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in ALLETE by 187.1% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 100,079 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,425,000 after purchasing an additional 65,222 shares during the last quarter. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd bought a new position in shares of ALLETE in the 3rd quarter valued at about $779,000. 76.55% of the stock is owned by 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.