ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) Stake Boosted by Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS grew its stake in shares of ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) by 54.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 169,707 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 59,891 shares during the period. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS’s holdings in ALLETE were worth $10,997,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of ALE. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC acquired a new stake in shares of ALLETE in the 3rd quarter valued at $38,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its stake in shares of ALLETE by 30.9% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 729 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 172 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its stake in shares of ALLETE by 32.9% in the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 876 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $57,000 after purchasing an additional 217 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of ALLETE by 31.0% in the 3rd quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. now owns 1,563 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $100,000 after purchasing an additional 370 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV lifted its stake 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 valued at $158,000 after purchasing an additional 928 shares during the last quarter. 76.55% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, StockNews.com began coverage on shares of ALLETE in a research note on Friday, January 10th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company.

ALLETE Stock Down 0.1 %

ALE stock opened at $65.66 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.81 billion, a PE ratio of 21.18 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. ALLETE, Inc. has a 1 year low of $56.66 and a 1 year high of $65.99. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $65.54 and a 200 day simple moving average of $64.81.

ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The utilities provider reported $0.87 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.02 by ($0.15). ALLETE had a return on equity of 5.97% and a net margin of 11.72%.

ALLETE Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were given a dividend of $0.73 per share. This is a positive change from ALLETE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $2.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.45%. ALLETE’s payout ratio is currently 94.19%.

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.