ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) Shares Purchased by State Street Corp

State Street Corp lifted its position in ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) by 0.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,459,692 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 13,335 shares during the quarter. State Street Corp owned approximately 4.25% of ALLETE worth $157,888,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ALE. Millennium Management LLC boosted its position in shares of ALLETE by 955.1% in the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 897,622 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $55,967,000 after purchasing an additional 812,548 shares during the period. Alpine Associates Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of ALLETE in the 2nd quarter valued at about $21,985,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted 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 valued at $14,941,000 after purchasing an additional 235,670 shares during the period. Water Island Capital LLC acquired a new stake in ALLETE during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $11,583,000. Finally, Gabelli Funds LLC grew its stake in shares of ALLETE by 59.1% in the 2nd quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 441,564 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $27,532,000 after purchasing an additional 164,064 shares during the last quarter. 76.55% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

ALLETE Stock Up 0.1 %

ALE opened at $64.64 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 business has a 50 day simple moving average of $64.53 and a 200-day simple moving average of $63.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.72 and a beta of 0.81. ALLETE, Inc. has a 12 month low of $55.86 and a 12 month high of $65.86.

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

ALLETE Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th were issued a $0.705 dividend. This is a boost from ALLETE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. This represents a $2.82 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.36%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 15th. ALLETE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 90.38%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on ALE. StockNews.com began coverage on ALLETE in a research note on Monday, December 9th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, ALLETE presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $62.00.

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.