OLD Republic International Corp Sells 4,000 Shares of ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE)

OLD Republic International Corp trimmed its stake in ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) by 0.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 541,100 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 4,000 shares during the quarter. OLD Republic International Corp owned 0.94% of ALLETE worth $33,094,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Arizona State Retirement System boosted its holdings in shares of ALLETE by 1.4% in the third quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 16,319 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $862,000 after buying an additional 221 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its position in ALLETE by 85.6% in the third quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 566 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 261 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP increased its position in shares of ALLETE by 131.2% during the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 467 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 265 shares during the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund increased its position in ALLETE by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 23,604 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,444,000 after acquiring an additional 295 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Huntington National Bank raised its holdings in shares of ALLETE by 18.8% in the third quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 2,096 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $111,000 after buying an additional 332 shares during the period. 76.55% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on ALLETE from $57.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Guggenheim upgraded ALLETE from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $58.00 price target for the company in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and five have issued a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, ALLETE currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $58.60.

ALLETE Trading Up 0.3 %

NYSE:ALE traded up $0.21 on Friday, hitting $63.14. The stock had a trading volume of 129,374 shares, compared to its average volume of 362,497. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $59.19 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $58.50. The stock has a market cap of $3.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.62 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. ALLETE, Inc. has a 1-year low of $49.29 and a 1-year high of $65.86.

ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.97 by ($0.08). ALLETE had a return on equity of 7.31% and a net margin of 13.15%. The company had revenue of $402.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $425.21 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.90 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that ALLETE, Inc. will post 3.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ALLETE Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 15th will be given a $0.705 dividend. This represents a $2.82 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 14th. ALLETE’s dividend payout ratio is currently 65.58%.

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.