ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) Short Interest Down 9.2% in July

ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) was the target of a significant decline in short interest in July. As of July 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,090,000 shares, a decline of 9.2% from the July 15th total of 1,200,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 494,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.2 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ALLETE

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of ALE. Principal Securities Inc. acquired a new position in shares of ALLETE in the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of ALLETE by 139.4% in the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 699 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 407 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of ALLETE by 4,157.1% in the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 1,192 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $71,000 after purchasing an additional 1,164 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new position in ALLETE during the second quarter worth $74,000. Finally, Hantz Financial Services Inc. bought a new position in ALLETE during the second quarter worth $75,000. Institutional investors own 76.55% of the company’s stock.

ALLETE Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ALE traded down $0.20 during trading on Friday, hitting $63.48. 380,091 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 394,680. ALLETE has a 1-year low of $49.29 and a 1-year high of $65.86. The company has a market capitalization of $3.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.26 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The business’s 50 day moving average is $63.41 and its 200-day moving average is $61.01.

ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87 by ($0.30). ALLETE had a return on equity of 7.07% and a net margin of 14.36%. The firm had revenue of $354.50 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $547.24 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.90 EPS. ALLETE’s revenue for the quarter was down 33.6% on a year-over-year basis.

ALLETE Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.7005 per share. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 15th. ALLETE’s payout ratio is 67.79%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on ALE shares. Mizuho raised their target price on ALLETE from $57.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 16th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on ALLETE in a research note on Sunday, August 11th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average 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.