ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) Receives Average Recommendation of “Reduce” from Analysts

Shares of ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) have been given an average recommendation of “Reduce” by the five analysts that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have given a hold rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $58.60.

Several equities analysts have issued reports on ALE shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of ALLETE from $57.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Guggenheim upgraded ALLETE from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $58.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, Sidoti cut shares of ALLETE from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $64.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th.

Institutional Trading of ALLETE

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ALE. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of ALLETE by 1.3% in the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 17,411 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,166,000 after buying an additional 228 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. bought a new stake in ALLETE during the first quarter valued at $204,000. HighTower Advisors LLC increased its stake in ALLETE by 10.9% during the first quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 4,374 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $293,000 after purchasing an additional 431 shares during the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund bought a new stake in ALLETE during the first quarter valued at $1,252,000. Finally, Great West Life Assurance Co. Can increased its stake in ALLETE by 11.7% during the first quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can now owns 30,291 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,085,000 after purchasing an additional 3,163 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.55% of the company’s stock.

ALLETE Stock Up 0.8 %

ALE stock opened at $57.85 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 0.78. The company has a market cap of $3.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.45 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $58.15 and a 200 day moving average price of $57.67. ALLETE has a 12 month low of $49.29 and a 12 month high of $65.10.

ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.97 by ($0.08). The firm had revenue of $402.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $425.21 million. ALLETE had a net margin of 13.15% and a return on equity of 7.31%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.90 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that ALLETE will post 3.75 earnings per share for the current year.

ALLETE Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, February 15th were paid a $0.705 dividend. This represents a $2.82 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.87%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 14th. This is a positive change from ALLETE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. ALLETE’s payout ratio is 65.58%.

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.