ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) Stock Position Lifted by Swiss National Bank

Swiss National Bank lifted its position in ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) by 0.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 113,600 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 800 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in ALLETE were worth $7,361,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in ALLETE by 1.0% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 766,343 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $49,192,000 after purchasing an additional 7,739 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of ALLETE by 28.3% in the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 129,635 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $8,321,000 after buying an additional 28,612 shares during the period. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. grew its position in shares of ALLETE by 100.0% during the 3rd quarter. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. now owns 80,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,135,000 after buying an additional 40,000 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in ALLETE by 0.5% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,459,692 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $157,888,000 after acquiring an additional 13,335 shares during the period. Finally, Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new stake in ALLETE during the fourth quarter worth about $380,000. 76.55% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com began coverage on ALLETE in a report on Friday, January 10th. They set a “hold” rating for the company.

ALLETE Stock Performance

ALE stock opened at $65.66 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $65.54 and its two-hundred day moving average is $64.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.18 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 1.08. ALLETE, Inc. has a 1 year low of $56.66 and a 1 year high of $65.99.

ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The utilities provider reported $0.87 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.02 by ($0.15). ALLETE had a net margin of 11.72% and a return on equity of 5.97%.

ALLETE Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were given a dividend of $0.73 per share. This represents a $2.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This is a positive change from ALLETE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. ALLETE’s payout ratio is 94.19%.

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.