ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) Now Covered by Analysts at StockNews.com

StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) in a report issued on Thursday. 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 note on Monday, September 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $62.00.

ALLETE Price Performance

ALLETE stock traded up $0.30 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $64.94. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 36,982 shares, compared to its average volume of 355,254. 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 capitalization of $3.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.72 and a beta of 0.80. ALLETE has a twelve month low of $53.14 and a twelve month high of $65.86. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $64.07 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $63.34.

ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by ($0.21). ALLETE had a return on equity of 5.99% and a net margin of 11.49%. The firm had revenue of $407.20 million during the quarter. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.49 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.5% on a year-over-year basis.

ALLETE Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.705 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $2.82 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.34%. This is an increase from ALLETE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. ALLETE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 90.38%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ALE. UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in shares of ALLETE by 261.0% during the 3rd 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 period. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of ALLETE by 4,157.1% during the 1st 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 during the period. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of ALLETE during the 2nd quarter worth about $74,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. bought a new position in shares of ALLETE during the 2nd quarter worth about $75,000. Finally, Covestor Ltd increased its holdings in shares of ALLETE by 1,118.1% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 2,156 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $129,000 after purchasing an additional 1,979 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.55% of the company’s stock.

ALLETE Company Profile

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.