ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) Position Lessened by Cozad Asset Management Inc.

Cozad Asset Management Inc. trimmed its position in shares of ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) by 1.3% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 33,544 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 438 shares during the quarter. Cozad Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in ALLETE were worth $2,174,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp increased its position in ALLETE by 0.5% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,459,692 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $157,888,000 after buying an additional 13,335 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in ALLETE by 1.6% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,395,362 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $89,584,000 after buying an additional 21,850 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in ALLETE by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 786,588 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $50,971,000 after buying an additional 20,245 shares during the last quarter. Alpine Associates Management Inc. increased its position in ALLETE by 12.9% during the third quarter. Alpine Associates Management Inc. now owns 398,047 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $25,551,000 after buying an additional 45,447 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers grew its position in shares of ALLETE by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 209,532 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $13,578,000 after purchasing an additional 7,153 shares during the last quarter. 76.55% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

ALLETE Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:ALE opened at $65.39 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $3.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.09 and a beta of 0.74. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $65.50 and its 200-day moving average is $64.77. ALLETE, Inc. has a 52-week low of $56.66 and a 52-week high of $65.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 1.08.

ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The utilities provider reported $0.87 earnings per share (EPS) 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 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This is an increase from ALLETE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. This represents a $2.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.47%. ALLETE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 94.19%.

ALLETE 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.