Loomis Sayles & Co. L P Has $9.38 Million Position in ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE)

Loomis Sayles & Co. L P reduced its holdings in ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) by 6.0% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 146,189 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 9,353 shares during the quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P’s holdings in ALLETE were worth $9,384,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in ALLETE by 1.8% in the third quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 18,928 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,215,000 after buying an additional 327 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System lifted its holdings in ALLETE by 2.2% in the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 16,143 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,007,000 after buying an additional 347 shares during the period. Meeder Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in ALLETE by 14.8% in the third quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,135 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $201,000 after buying an additional 405 shares during the period. CWM LLC lifted its holdings in ALLETE by 12.3% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,827 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $239,000 after buying an additional 420 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC lifted its holdings in ALLETE by 6.7% in the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 7,102 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $443,000 after buying an additional 447 shares during the period. 76.55% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Sidoti upgraded shares of ALLETE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of ALLETE in a report on Saturday, November 23rd. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, ALLETE currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $62.00.

ALLETE Stock Down 0.0 %

Shares of ALE stock opened at $64.87 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $64.35 and a 200-day moving average of $63.70. 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, Inc. has a 12-month low of $54.90 and a 12-month high of $65.86. The company has a market capitalization of $3.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.79 and a beta of 0.80.

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

ALLETE Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th will be given a $0.705 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $2.82 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.35%. This is an increase from ALLETE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. ALLETE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 90.38%.

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.