ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) Sees Strong Trading Volume – What’s Next?

ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) saw strong trading volume on Wednesday . 408,065 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 17% from the previous session’s volume of 349,611 shares.The stock last traded at $65.19 and had previously closed at $65.45.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ALE has been the topic of a number of research reports. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of ALLETE in a report on Friday, January 10th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Sidoti raised shares of ALLETE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, ALLETE currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $61.33.

ALLETE Stock Up 0.2 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $3.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.03 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $64.78 and a 200 day simple moving average of $64.16. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51.

ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by ($0.21). ALLETE had a return on equity of 5.99% and a net margin of 11.49%. The firm had revenue of $407.20 million during the quarter. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.49 EPS. ALLETE’s quarterly revenue was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year.

ALLETE Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th were issued a dividend of $0.705 per share. This is a boost 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 dividend yield of 4.30%. ALLETE’s dividend payout ratio is presently 90.38%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ALLETE

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of ALE. D.A. Davidson & CO. grew its position in ALLETE by 1.9% during the third quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 16,844 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,081,000 after buying an additional 315 shares during the period. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of ALLETE by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 18,928 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,215,000 after acquiring an additional 327 shares during the period. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. grew its position in shares of ALLETE by 31.0% during the 3rd quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. now owns 1,563 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $100,000 after acquiring an additional 370 shares during the period. Meeder Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of ALLETE by 14.8% in the 3rd quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,135 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $201,000 after purchasing an additional 405 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC raised its holdings in ALLETE by 6.7% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 7,102 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $443,000 after purchasing an additional 447 shares during the period. 76.55% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.