ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) Sets New 52-Week High – Should You Buy?

ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) hit a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $65.94 and last traded at $65.90, with a volume of 13614 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $65.73.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ALE has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Sidoti upgraded ALLETE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of ALLETE in a research report on Friday, January 10th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock.

ALLETE Stock Down 0.6 %

The firm has a market cap of $3.79 billion, a PE ratio of 21.00 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 1.45 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $64.86 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $64.30.

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

ALLETE Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th were given a $0.705 dividend. This is an increase from ALLETE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. This represents a $2.82 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.30%. ALLETE’s dividend payout ratio is presently 90.38%.

Institutional Trading of ALLETE

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ALE. Millennium Management LLC raised its stake in shares of ALLETE by 955.1% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 897,622 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $55,967,000 after purchasing an additional 812,548 shares in the last quarter. Water Island Capital LLC acquired a new position in ALLETE in the second quarter worth approximately $11,583,000. Squarepoint Ops LLC bought a new position in ALLETE during the second quarter valued at approximately $10,161,000. Glazer Capital LLC acquired a new stake in ALLETE in the third quarter valued at approximately $5,766,000. Finally, Barclays PLC grew its position in ALLETE by 187.1% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 100,079 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,425,000 after acquiring an additional 65,222 shares in the last quarter. 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.