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

StockNews.com started coverage on shares of ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) in a research note issued to investors on Monday morning. The firm issued a hold rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

Separately, Mizuho boosted their price target on ALLETE from $57.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Thursday, May 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and five have assigned a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $60.40.

ALLETE Stock Down 0.0 %

Shares of NYSE ALE opened at $62.63 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.06 and a beta of 0.79. ALLETE has a 52 week low of $49.29 and a 52 week high of $65.86. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $62.26 and a 200 day moving average price of $60.28. 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 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $581.26 million. Equities research analysts anticipate that ALLETE will post 3.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ALLETE Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, June 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 15th were given a $0.705 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 14th. This represents a $2.82 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.50%. ALLETE’s dividend payout ratio is presently 67.79%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ALLETE

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Principal Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of ALLETE during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Allworth Financial LP increased its position in ALLETE by 131.2% during the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 467 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 265 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its position in ALLETE by 139.4% during the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 699 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 407 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its stake in ALLETE by 4,157.1% during the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 1,192 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $71,000 after buying an additional 1,164 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC acquired a new stake in shares of ALLETE in the fourth quarter worth $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.