ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) Research Coverage Started at StockNews.com

StockNews.com began coverage on shares of ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) in a research note released on Saturday. The brokerage issued a hold rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

Separately, Sidoti upgraded shares of ALLETE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $62.00.

ALLETE Trading Up 0.1 %

NYSE ALE opened at $65.00 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $64.33 and its 200 day moving average price is $63.69. The company has a market capitalization of $3.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.83 and a beta of 0.80. ALLETE has a 12 month low of $54.71 and a 12 month high of $65.86. 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 (NYSE:ALE) last released 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). ALLETE had a net margin of 11.49% and a return on equity of 5.99%. The business had revenue of $407.20 million during the quarter. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.49 EPS. ALLETE’s revenue was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year.

ALLETE Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be issued a $0.705 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. This is a boost from ALLETE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. This represents a $2.82 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.34%. ALLETE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 90.38%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ALLETE

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ALE. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC acquired a new stake in ALLETE in the 3rd quarter valued at about $38,000. UMB Bank n.a. increased its stake in ALLETE by 261.0% during the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,083 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $70,000 after acquiring an additional 783 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its position in ALLETE by 4,157.1% during the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 1,192 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $71,000 after purchasing an additional 1,164 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new stake in ALLETE during the second quarter worth approximately $74,000. Finally, Hantz Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in ALLETE during the 2nd quarter worth $75,000. 76.55% of the stock is 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.