ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) Hits New 1-Year High – Here’s Why

ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $65.94 and last traded at $65.90, with a volume of 13614 shares. The stock had previously closed at $65.73.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ALE has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Sidoti upgraded ALLETE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on ALLETE in a research report on Friday, January 10th. They set a “hold” rating for the company.

ALLETE Trading Down 0.6 %

The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $64.86 and a 200-day moving average price of $64.30. The company has a market capitalization of $3.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.00 and a beta of 0.80.

ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by ($0.21). The business had revenue of $407.20 million during the quarter. ALLETE had a net margin of 11.49% and a return on equity of 5.99%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.49 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 7.5% on a year-over-year basis.

ALLETE Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, December 1st. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th were paid a dividend of $0.705 per share. This is a boost from ALLETE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. This represents a $2.82 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.30%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 15th. ALLETE’s dividend payout ratio is presently 90.38%.

Institutional Trading of ALLETE

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC bought a new position in shares of ALLETE during the 3rd quarter worth about $38,000. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its stake in ALLETE by 32.9% during the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 876 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $57,000 after acquiring an additional 217 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. increased its stake in ALLETE by 261.0% during the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,083 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $70,000 after acquiring an additional 783 shares during the period. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new position in ALLETE in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $74,000. Finally, KBC Group NV lifted its position in shares of ALLETE by 61.7% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,431 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $158,000 after acquiring an additional 928 shares during the period. 76.55% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.