StockNews.com Initiates Coverage on ALLETE (NYSE:ALE)

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

Separately, Sidoti raised shares of ALLETE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $62.00.

ALLETE Stock Performance

Shares of ALE stock opened at $64.68 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.73 and a beta of 0.81. 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 firm’s 50 day moving average is $64.55 and its 200 day moving average is $63.89. ALLETE has a 12 month low of $55.86 and a 12 month 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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by ($0.21). The business had revenue of $407.20 million for the quarter. ALLETE had a net margin of 11.49% and a return on equity of 5.99%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.49 EPS.

ALLETE Increases Dividend

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

Institutional Trading of ALLETE

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in shares of ALLETE by 9.8% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 65,056 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,190,000 after buying an additional 5,799 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in shares of ALLETE in the 3rd quarter worth $282,000. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of ALLETE by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,395,362 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $89,584,000 after buying an additional 21,850 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its holdings in shares of ALLETE by 187.1% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 100,079 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,425,000 after buying an additional 65,222 shares during the last quarter. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd bought a new position in shares of ALLETE in the 3rd quarter worth $779,000. Institutional investors own 76.55% of the company’s stock.

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.