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

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

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

ALLETE Trading Down 0.4 %

ALE opened at $64.37 on Wednesday. ALLETE has a 12-month low of $55.86 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. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.72 billion, a PE ratio of 20.63 and a beta of 0.81. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $64.56 and its 200 day moving average price is $63.94.

ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by ($0.21). ALLETE had a net margin of 11.49% and a return on equity of 5.99%. The company had revenue of $407.20 million during the quarter. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.49 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.5% on a year-over-year basis.

ALLETE Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th were issued a $0.705 dividend. 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. This represents a $2.82 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.38%. ALLETE’s payout ratio is 90.38%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ALLETE

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Millennium Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of ALLETE by 955.1% during the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 897,622 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $55,967,000 after acquiring an additional 812,548 shares during the period. Alpine Associates Management Inc. bought a new stake in ALLETE in the 2nd quarter valued at about $21,985,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its stake in ALLETE by 6,668.6% during the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 239,204 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $14,941,000 after purchasing an additional 235,670 shares during the period. Water Island Capital LLC bought a new position in ALLETE in the 2nd quarter worth about $11,583,000. Finally, Gabelli Funds LLC increased its stake in shares of ALLETE by 59.1% in the second quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 441,564 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $27,532,000 after purchasing an additional 164,064 shares during the period. 76.55% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.