ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) Shares Acquired by Xponance Inc.

Xponance Inc. boosted its position in ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) by 4.5% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 8,198 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 356 shares during the quarter. Xponance Inc.’s holdings in ALLETE were worth $531,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ALE. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its stake in shares of ALLETE by 30.9% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 729 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 172 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its position in ALLETE by 32.9% during the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 876 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $57,000 after buying an additional 217 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. grew its stake in ALLETE by 31.0% during the third quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. now owns 1,563 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $100,000 after buying an additional 370 shares during the period. KBC Group NV increased its position in shares of ALLETE by 61.7% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,431 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $158,000 after acquiring an additional 928 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Paloma Partners Management Co purchased a new position in shares of ALLETE in the 3rd quarter valued at $266,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.55% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

ALLETE Stock Performance

ALLETE stock opened at $65.47 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.79 billion, a PE ratio of 21.12 and a beta of 0.74. ALLETE, Inc. has a one year low of $56.66 and a one year high of $65.99. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $65.55 and its 200 day moving average price is $64.86. 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 (NYSE:ALE) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The utilities provider reported $0.87 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.02 by ($0.15). ALLETE had a return on equity of 5.97% and a net margin of 11.72%.

ALLETE Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were given a $0.73 dividend. This is a boost from ALLETE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. This represents a $2.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. ALLETE’s dividend payout ratio is presently 94.19%.

About ALLETE

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.