StockNews.com Begins Coverage on ALLETE (NYSE:ALE)

StockNews.com started coverage on shares of ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday. The firm issued a hold rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

Separately, Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of ALLETE from $57.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Thursday, May 16th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $62.00.

ALLETE Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of ALE opened at $63.48 on Wednesday. ALLETE has a 1-year low of $49.29 and a 1-year high of $65.86. The company has a current ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $63.57 and its 200-day moving average price is $61.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.26 and a beta of 0.80.

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

ALLETE Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 15th were paid a dividend of $0.7005 per share. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 15th. ALLETE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 67.79%.

Institutional Trading of ALLETE

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Principal Securities Inc. purchased a new position in shares of ALLETE during the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its stake in ALLETE by 139.4% in the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 699 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 407 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of ALLETE by 4,157.1% during the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 1,192 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $71,000 after acquiring an additional 1,164 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of ALLETE during the 2nd quarter worth about $74,000. Finally, Hantz Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of ALLETE during the 2nd quarter worth about $75,000. 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.