HighTower Advisors LLC Purchases 855 Shares of ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE)

HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) by 15.7% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 6,311 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 855 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in ALLETE were worth $409,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Cerity Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of ALLETE by 1.7% during the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 27,080 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,738,000 after acquiring an additional 451 shares during the last quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. raised its holdings in ALLETE by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 16,844 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,081,000 after acquiring an additional 315 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its holdings in ALLETE by 31.7% in the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 19,470 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,250,000 after buying an additional 4,684 shares in the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its position in ALLETE by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 10,461 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $671,000 after purchasing an additional 639 shares during the period. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors boosted its position in ALLETE by 38.2% in the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 47,341 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,039,000 after purchasing an additional 13,080 shares during the last quarter. 76.55% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

ALLETE Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE ALE opened at $65.68 on Tuesday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $65.55 and its two-hundred day moving average is $64.91. ALLETE, Inc. has a 1-year low of $56.66 and a 1-year high of $65.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.19 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 0.69.

ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The utilities provider reported $0.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.02 by ($0.15). ALLETE had a return on equity of 5.97% and a net margin of 11.72%.

ALLETE Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a $0.73 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This is a positive change from ALLETE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. This represents a $2.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.45%. ALLETE’s dividend payout ratio is 94.19%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, StockNews.com started coverage on shares of ALLETE in a research note on Friday, January 10th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock.

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.