ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) was the target of a large growth in short interest in November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 997,700 shares, a growth of 20.8% from the November 15th total of 825,800 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 257,800 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.9 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ALLETE

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC acquired a new position in ALLETE in the 3rd quarter worth about $38,000. UMB Bank n.a. increased its stake in shares of ALLETE by 261.0% during the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,083 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $70,000 after purchasing an additional 783 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of ALLETE during the 2nd quarter worth $74,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. bought a new position in shares of ALLETE during the 2nd quarter valued at $75,000. Finally, Summit Securities Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of ALLETE in the 2nd quarter valued at $158,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.55% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ALE has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Sidoti raised ALLETE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of ALLETE in a report on Monday, December 9th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, ALLETE presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $62.00.

ALLETE Stock Performance

Shares of ALE stock opened at $64.64 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.72 and a beta of 0.81. ALLETE has a 1-year low of $55.86 and a 1-year high of $65.86. The company has a current ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $64.53 and its 200-day simple moving average is $63.86.

ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by ($0.21). The business 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%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.49 EPS.

ALLETE Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, December 1st. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th were given a dividend of $0.705 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 15th. This is an increase from ALLETE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. This represents a $2.82 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.36%. ALLETE’s payout ratio is presently 90.38%.

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.