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

StockNews.com began 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 investment 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 company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $62.00.

ALLETE Stock Performance

NYSE ALE traded up $0.30 on Thursday, hitting $64.94. 36,982 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 355,254. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $64.07 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $63.34. The firm has a market cap of $3.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.72 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 1.45 and a quick ratio of 0.95. ALLETE has a fifty-two week low of $53.14 and a fifty-two week high of $65.86.

ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.99 by ($0.21). The firm had revenue of $407.20 million for the quarter. ALLETE had a return on equity of 5.99% and a net margin of 11.49%. ALLETE’s quarterly revenue was up 7.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.49 earnings per share.

ALLETE Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.705 per share. This represents a $2.82 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.34%. This is an increase from ALLETE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. ALLETE’s dividend payout ratio is presently 90.38%.

Institutional Trading of ALLETE

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ALE. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in ALLETE by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 18,928 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,215,000 after buying an additional 327 shares during the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System increased its stake in shares of ALLETE by 2.2% in the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 16,143 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,007,000 after purchasing an additional 347 shares during the period. Meeder Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of ALLETE by 14.8% in the third quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,135 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $201,000 after purchasing an additional 405 shares during the period. CWM LLC increased its stake in shares of ALLETE by 12.3% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,827 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $239,000 after purchasing an additional 420 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC increased its stake in shares of ALLETE by 6.7% during the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 7,102 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $443,000 after acquiring an additional 447 shares during the period. 76.55% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.