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

Stock analysts at StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) in a report issued on Friday. The firm set a “hold” rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

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

ALLETE Trading Down 0.3 %

ALE stock opened at $64.54 on Friday. 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 company has a market capitalization of $3.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.69 and a beta of 0.80. ALLETE has a 1-year low of $54.71 and a 1-year high of $65.86. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $64.22 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $63.52.

ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) last posted its 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). The firm had revenue of $407.20 million for the quarter. ALLETE had a net margin of 11.49% and a return on equity of 5.99%. The business’s revenue was up 7.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.49 EPS.

Institutional Investors 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 ALLETE in the third quarter worth about $38,000. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its holdings in ALLETE by 261.0% in the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,083 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $70,000 after acquiring an additional 783 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in ALLETE by 4,157.1% in the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 1,192 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $71,000 after acquiring an additional 1,164 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new stake in ALLETE in the second quarter worth about $74,000. Finally, Hantz Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in ALLETE in the second quarter worth about $75,000. Institutional investors 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.