ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) Coverage Initiated by 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, Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of ALLETE from $57.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Thursday, May 16th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $62.00.

ALLETE Stock Performance

Shares of ALE stock opened at $64.56 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 1.66. The firm has a market cap of $3.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.52 and a beta of 0.80. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $63.05 and its 200-day moving average price is $60.55. ALLETE has a one year low of $49.29 and a one year high of $65.86.

ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 9th. The utilities provider reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.09 by ($0.12). ALLETE had a net margin of 13.94% and a return on equity of 7.21%. The firm had revenue of $403.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $581.26 million. As a group, equities research analysts predict that ALLETE will post 3.75 EPS for the current year.

ALLETE Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 15th will be paid a $0.7005 dividend. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.34%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 15th. ALLETE’s payout ratio is presently 67.79%.

Institutional Trading of ALLETE

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Harbour Investments Inc. grew its holdings in ALLETE by 5.0% during the 2nd quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 14,416 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $899,000 after acquiring an additional 693 shares in the last quarter. Summit Securities Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of ALLETE in the 2nd quarter valued at $158,000. Bailard Inc. lifted its position in shares of ALLETE by 30.2% during the 2nd quarter. Bailard Inc. now owns 5,600 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $349,000 after purchasing an additional 1,300 shares during the last quarter. Summit Global Investments grew its stake in shares of ALLETE by 5.8% during the second quarter. Summit Global Investments now owns 22,528 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,405,000 after purchasing an additional 1,236 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in ALLETE by 9.5% in the second quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 53,536 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,338,000 after buying an additional 4,658 shares during the last quarter. 76.55% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.