ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) Research Coverage Started at StockNews.com

StockNews.com began coverage on shares of ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) in a research note released on Wednesday morning. The brokerage issued a hold rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

Separately, Mizuho raised 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 equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $62.00.

ALLETE Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of ALE stock opened at $63.48 on Wednesday. ALLETE has a fifty-two week low of $49.29 and a fifty-two week high of $65.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.26 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $63.57 and a 200 day simple moving average of $61.54.

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

ALLETE Dividend Announcement

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 was Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.41%. ALLETE’s payout ratio is currently 67.79%.

Institutional Trading of ALLETE

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Water Island Capital LLC bought a new position in ALLETE during the second quarter worth about $11,583,000. Creative Planning grew its stake in shares of ALLETE by 204.1% during the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 20,972 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,308,000 after buying an additional 14,076 shares during the last quarter. Algert Global LLC grew its stake in shares of ALLETE by 16.5% during the second quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 40,988 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,556,000 after buying an additional 5,808 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in shares of ALLETE by 955.1% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 897,622 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $55,967,000 after purchasing an additional 812,548 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew 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 worth $24,052,000 after purchasing an additional 34,810 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.