LPL Financial LLC Buys 6,367 Shares of ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE)

LPL Financial LLC increased its stake in shares of ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) by 40.3% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 22,159 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,367 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC’s holdings in ALLETE were worth $1,436,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of ALLETE during the fourth quarter valued at about $5,378,000. Barclays PLC increased its position in ALLETE by 187.1% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 100,079 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $6,425,000 after buying an additional 65,222 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS raised its stake in ALLETE by 54.5% during the 4th quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 169,707 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $10,997,000 after buying an additional 59,891 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in ALLETE in the fourth quarter worth approximately $3,522,000. Finally, ABC Arbitrage SA acquired a new stake in ALLETE in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,201,000. 76.55% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

ALLETE Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE ALE opened at $64.72 on Friday. 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 company has a 50-day moving average price of $65.34 and a 200-day moving average price of $64.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.88 and a beta of 0.69. ALLETE, Inc. has a 1 year low of $57.85 and a 1 year high of $65.99.

ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were given a dividend of $0.73 per share. This is a boost from ALLETE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $2.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.51%. ALLETE’s 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.