CWA Asset Management Group LLC Raises Holdings in ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE)

CWA Asset Management Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) by 13.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 19,613 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,339 shares during the period. CWA Asset Management Group LLC’s holdings in ALLETE were worth $1,271,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ALE has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. StockNews.com started coverage on ALLETE in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Sidoti raised ALLETE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, ALLETE presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $62.00.

ALLETE Trading Down 0.2 %

NYSE:ALE opened at $64.88 on Wednesday. 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 has a fifty day simple moving average of $64.65 and a 200-day simple moving average of $64.06. ALLETE, Inc. has a 12 month low of $55.86 and a 12 month high of $65.86. The company has a market capitalization of $3.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.79 and a beta of 0.80.

ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) last issued 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). ALLETE had a return on equity of 5.99% and a net margin of 11.49%. The firm had revenue of $407.20 million for the quarter. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.49 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year.

ALLETE Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th were paid a dividend of $0.705 per share. This represents a $2.82 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.35%. This is a boost from ALLETE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 15th. 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.