JPMorgan Chase & Co. Trims Holdings in ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced its holdings in shares of ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) by 19.5% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 302,131 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 72,982 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s holdings in ALLETE were worth $19,394,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of ALE. Quest Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of ALLETE by 249.1% during the third quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 34,367 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,206,000 after buying an additional 24,523 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of ALLETE by 1.0% in 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 period. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of ALLETE by 147.1% in the second quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC now owns 84,607 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,275,000 after purchasing an additional 50,361 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. raised its stake in shares of ALLETE by 28.3% during the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 129,635 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,321,000 after purchasing an additional 28,612 shares during the last quarter. Finally, WINTON GROUP Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of ALLETE during the second quarter worth $3,572,000. 76.55% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ALE has been the topic of several recent research reports. Sidoti raised shares of ALLETE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of ALLETE in a report on Friday. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $62.00.

ALLETE Price Performance

ALLETE stock opened at $65.28 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $3.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.92 and a beta of 0.80. ALLETE, Inc. has a one year low of $55.86 and a one year high of $65.86. The business has a fifty day moving average of $64.71 and a two-hundred day moving average of $64.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.45.

ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.78 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 company had revenue of $407.20 million during the quarter. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.49 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.5% on a year-over-year basis.

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 paid a dividend of $0.705 per share. This is a positive change from ALLETE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 15th. This represents a $2.82 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.32%. ALLETE’s payout ratio is 90.38%.

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.