Federated Hermes Inc. Sells 3,358 Shares of ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE)

Federated Hermes Inc. reduced its stake in ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) by 37.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 5,728 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 3,358 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc.’s holdings in ALLETE were worth $371,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in ALLETE by 7.0% in the 4th quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 28,917 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,874,000 after purchasing an additional 1,902 shares during the period. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd bought a new position in shares of ALLETE in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $311,000. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in ALLETE during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $671,000. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. increased its holdings in ALLETE by 198.2% during the 4th quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 9,611 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $623,000 after acquiring an additional 6,388 shares during the period. Finally, Trexquant Investment LP bought a new position in ALLETE in the 4th quarter valued at $327,000. 76.55% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

ALLETE Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of ALE opened at $64.72 on Friday. ALLETE, Inc. has a 1-year low of $57.85 and a 1-year high of $65.99. The company has a market capitalization of $3.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.88 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 0.69. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $65.34 and its 200 day simple moving average is $64.98.

ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) last posted 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 company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a dividend of $0.73 per share. This represents a $2.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.51%. This is a boost from ALLETE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. ALLETE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 94.19%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, StockNews.com initiated coverage on ALLETE in a research report on Friday, January 10th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock.

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.