ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) Holdings Trimmed by Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund

Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund lowered its holdings in ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) by 16.1% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,946 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 2,300 shares during the period. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund’s holdings in ALLETE were worth $745,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Wolverine Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in ALLETE during the second quarter valued at $2,141,000. Rhumbline Advisers lifted its stake in shares of ALLETE by 2.5% in the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 206,405 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $12,869,000 after purchasing an additional 4,987 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in ALLETE by 9.4% in the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 14,877 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $928,000 after purchasing an additional 1,274 shares during the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of ALLETE in the second quarter worth $75,000. Finally, WBI Investments LLC acquired a new position in ALLETE during the 2nd quarter worth $882,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.55% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. StockNews.com assumed coverage on ALLETE in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Mizuho upped their price target on ALLETE from $57.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 16th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $62.00.

ALLETE Stock Performance

NYSE:ALE opened at $63.89 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 1.45. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $63.65 and its 200-day moving average is $61.67. ALLETE, Inc. has a 52-week low of $49.29 and a 52-week high of $65.86. The company has a market cap of $3.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.36 and a beta of 0.80.

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

ALLETE Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 15th were paid a dividend of $0.7005 per share. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.39%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 15th. ALLETE’s dividend payout ratio is 67.79%.

ALLETE 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.