StockNews.com Begins Coverage on ALLETE (NYSE:ALE)

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

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

ALLETE Stock Performance

ALLETE stock opened at $64.56 on Friday. ALLETE has a 1-year low of $49.29 and a 1-year high of $65.86. 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 current ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $63.05 and a 200-day moving average of $60.55.

ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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). The business had revenue of $403.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $581.26 million. ALLETE had a return on equity of 7.21% and a net margin of 13.94%. Sell-side analysts expect that ALLETE will post 3.75 EPS for the current year.

ALLETE Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 15th will be issued 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 presently 67.79%.

Institutional Trading of ALLETE

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of ALLETE by 0.5% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,615,496 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $394,548,000 after acquiring an additional 35,992 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of ALLETE by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 888,731 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $54,355,000 after buying an additional 24,690 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in ALLETE by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 716,941 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $43,848,000 after buying an additional 22,139 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. raised its position in ALLETE by 2.7% in the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 308,300 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $18,387,000 after buying an additional 7,981 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in ALLETE by 4.2% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 278,294 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $16,597,000 after acquiring an additional 11,219 shares during the period. 76.55% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.