ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) Shares Purchased by Gamco Investors INC. ET AL

Gamco Investors INC. ET AL raised its stake in shares of ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) by 44.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 13,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 4,000 shares during the quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL’s holdings in ALLETE were worth $775,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Covestor Ltd grew its holdings in ALLETE by 1,118.1% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 2,156 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $129,000 after buying an additional 1,979 shares during the last quarter. TIAA Trust National Association lifted its stake in shares of ALLETE by 69.0% during the 1st quarter. TIAA Trust National Association now owns 6,231 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $372,000 after purchasing an additional 2,544 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of ALLETE by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,615,496 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $394,548,000 after purchasing an additional 35,992 shares during the period. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of ALLETE during the 1st quarter worth $410,000. Finally, Cozad Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of ALLETE by 6.6% during the 1st quarter. Cozad Asset Management Inc. now owns 25,353 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,512,000 after purchasing an additional 1,573 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.55% of the company’s stock.

ALLETE Stock Up 0.1 %

NYSE ALE traded up $0.09 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $64.56. The company had a trading volume of 243,548 shares, compared to its average volume of 461,968. ALLETE, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $49.29 and a fifty-two week high of $65.86. The company has a market capitalization of $3.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.52 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 1.66 and a quick ratio of 0.96. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $63.05 and its 200 day moving average is $60.56.

ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 9th. The utilities provider reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.09 by ($0.12). The business had revenue of $403.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $581.26 million. ALLETE had a net margin of 13.94% and a return on equity of 7.21%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that ALLETE, Inc. will post 3.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ALLETE Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.7005 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.34%. ALLETE’s dividend payout ratio is presently 67.79%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on ALE shares. Mizuho increased their price target on ALLETE from $57.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 16th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on ALLETE in a research report on Friday. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, ALLETE presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $62.00.

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.