ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) Earns Hold Rating from Analysts at StockNews.com

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

ALLETE Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of ALLETE stock opened at $64.06 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $63.85 and its 200-day simple moving average is $62.11. The company has a market cap of $3.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.40 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a current ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. ALLETE has a 1 year low of $49.29 and a 1 year high of $65.86.

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

ALLETE Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 15th were given a dividend of $0.7005 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.37%. ALLETE’s payout ratio is currently 67.79%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ALLETE

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in ALLETE by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,615,496 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $394,548,000 after buying an additional 35,992 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of ALLETE by 5.8% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 964,193 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $60,118,000 after buying an additional 52,499 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC raised its position in ALLETE by 955.1% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 897,622 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $55,967,000 after purchasing an additional 812,548 shares during the last quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC raised its position in ALLETE by 59.1% in the second quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 441,564 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $27,532,000 after purchasing an additional 164,064 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of ALLETE by 9.9% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 385,750 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $24,052,000 after buying an additional 34,810 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.55% of the company’s stock.

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.