Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. Buys New Shares in ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE)

Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. purchased a new position in shares of ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 3,192 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $205,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ALE. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 783 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in ALLETE by 4,157.1% in the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 1,192 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $71,000 after buying an additional 1,164 shares during the period. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new position in ALLETE during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $74,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in ALLETE during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $75,000. Finally, Covestor Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of ALLETE by 1,118.1% in the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 2,156 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $129,000 after acquiring an additional 1,979 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.55% of the company’s stock.

ALLETE Stock Performance

ALE opened at $64.46 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $64.25 and a 200 day moving average price of $63.64. ALLETE, Inc. has a 1 year low of $54.71 and a 1 year high of $65.86. The stock has a market cap of $3.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.66 and a beta of 0.80. 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 issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.78 earnings per share 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 during the quarter. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.49 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.5% on a year-over-year basis.

ALLETE Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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. This is a positive change from ALLETE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. This represents a $2.82 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.37%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. ALLETE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 90.38%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on ALE. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of ALLETE in a report on Friday. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Sidoti upgraded ALLETE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Four investment 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 a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $62.00.

ALLETE 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.