ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) Posts Earnings Results, Misses Estimates By $0.21 EPS

ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday. The utilities provider reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by ($0.21), Briefing.com reports. ALLETE had a net margin of 11.49% and a return on equity of 5.99%. The business had revenue of $407.20 million during the quarter. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.49 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year.

ALLETE Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ALE traded up $0.14 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $64.05. 207,548 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 358,500. ALLETE has a 1-year low of $53.14 and a 1-year high of $65.86. The company has a market cap of $3.70 billion, a PE ratio of 20.54 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 1.45. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $63.98 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $63.17.

ALLETE Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be given a $0.705 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. This is a boost from ALLETE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. This represents a $2.82 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.40%. ALLETE’s payout ratio is presently 90.38%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on ALE. Sidoti upgraded shares of ALLETE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. StockNews.com began coverage on ALLETE in a report on Wednesday. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, ALLETE presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average 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.