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

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

Separately, Mizuho raised their target price on shares of ALLETE from $57.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Thursday, May 16th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, According to MarketBeat.com, ALLETE currently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $62.00.

ALLETE Trading Down 0.8 %

ALLETE stock opened at $61.67 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $62.47 and a 200-day moving average of $60.32. ALLETE has a one year low of $49.29 and a one year high of $65.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 1.66 and a quick ratio of 0.96. The company has a market cap of $3.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.82 and a beta of 0.80.

ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 9th. The utilities provider reported $0.97 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.09 by ($0.12). ALLETE had a return on equity of 7.21% and a net margin of 13.94%. The business had revenue of $403.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $581.26 million. On average, equities analysts expect that ALLETE will post 3.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ALLETE Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, June 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 15th were paid a $0.705 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 14th. This represents a $2.82 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.57%. ALLETE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 67.79%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Principal Securities Inc. bought a new stake in shares of ALLETE during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Allworth Financial LP grew its stake in shares of ALLETE by 131.2% during the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 467 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 265 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of ALLETE by 139.4% during the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 699 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 407 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of ALLETE by 4,157.1% during the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 1,192 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $71,000 after buying an additional 1,164 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new stake in shares of ALLETE during the fourth quarter worth $77,000. 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.