ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at StockNews.com

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

ALLETE Stock Down 0.1 %

ALLETE stock opened at $64.12 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.70 billion, a PE ratio of 15.41 and a beta of 0.80. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $63.87 and a 200 day moving average price of $62.38. ALLETE has a fifty-two week low of $49.29 and a fifty-two week high of $65.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 1.45.

ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.87 by ($0.30). The firm had revenue of $354.50 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $547.24 million. ALLETE had a return on equity of 7.07% and a net margin of 14.36%. ALLETE’s revenue for the quarter was down 33.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.90 earnings per share.

ALLETE Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, September 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, August 15th were given a $0.7005 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.37%. ALLETE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 67.79%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ALLETE

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of ALE. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in ALLETE by 0.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,615,496 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $394,548,000 after purchasing an additional 35,992 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in ALLETE by 5.8% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 964,193 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $60,118,000 after purchasing an additional 52,499 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC increased its stake in ALLETE by 955.1% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 897,622 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $55,967,000 after purchasing an additional 812,548 shares during the period. Gabelli Funds LLC increased its stake in ALLETE by 59.1% in the second quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 441,564 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $27,532,000 after purchasing an additional 164,064 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in ALLETE by 9.9% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 385,750 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $24,052,000 after purchasing an additional 34,810 shares during the period. 76.55% of the stock is 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.