ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at StockNews.com

StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday 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 research report on Monday, September 30th. Four research 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, ALLETE has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $62.00.

ALLETE Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of ALE stock opened at $64.60 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. ALLETE has a fifty-two week low of $55.86 and a fifty-two week high of $65.86. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $64.56 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $63.90. The stock has a market cap of $3.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.71 and a beta of 0.81.

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

ALLETE Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 4.37%. This is a positive change from ALLETE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 15th. ALLETE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 90.38%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ALLETE

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

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.