ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) Earns Hold Rating from Analysts at StockNews.com

StockNews.com started coverage on shares of ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) in a research report released on Friday. The firm issued a hold rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

Separately, Sidoti raised shares of ALLETE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, ALLETE presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $62.00.

ALLETE Trading Up 0.8 %

NYSE:ALE traded up $0.52 on Friday, hitting $64.36. The stock had a trading volume of 293,818 shares, compared to its average volume of 354,411. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $64.24 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $63.56. ALLETE has a 1-year low of $54.71 and a 1-year high of $65.86. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The stock has a market cap of $3.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.63 and a beta of 0.80.

ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by ($0.21). The company 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 was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.49 earnings per share.

ALLETE Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be paid a $0.705 dividend. This is a positive change from ALLETE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. This represents a $2.82 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. ALLETE’s dividend payout ratio is currently 90.38%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC acquired a new stake in ALLETE during the 3rd quarter worth $38,000. UMB Bank n.a. grew its holdings in shares of ALLETE by 261.0% during the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,083 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $70,000 after purchasing an additional 783 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of ALLETE by 4,157.1% during the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 1,192 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $71,000 after purchasing an additional 1,164 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of ALLETE in the 2nd quarter valued at about $74,000. Finally, Hantz Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of ALLETE in the second quarter valued at approximately $75,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.55% of the company’s 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.