ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) Now Covered by StockNews.com

StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) in a research note published on Friday. The firm issued a hold rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

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

ALLETE Stock Performance

ALE opened at $64.56 on Friday. ALLETE has a 52 week low of $49.29 and a 52 week high of $65.86. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $63.07 and a 200-day simple moving average of $60.57. The firm has a market cap of $3.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.52 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52.

ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 9th. The utilities provider reported $0.97 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.09 by ($0.12). ALLETE had a return on equity of 7.21% and a net margin of 13.94%. The firm had revenue of $403.30 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $581.26 million. On average, equities analysts expect that ALLETE will post 3.75 earnings per share for the current year.

ALLETE Dividend Announcement

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ALLETE

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Principal Securities Inc. acquired a new position in ALLETE in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Allworth Financial LP boosted its holdings in ALLETE by 131.2% in 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 in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its holdings 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 in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in ALLETE by 4,157.1% in the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 1,192 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $71,000 after purchasing an additional 1,164 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC purchased a new stake in ALLETE in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $77,000. 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.