ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) saw a significant increase in short interest during the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,070,000 shares, an increase of 7.8% from the December 15th total of 992,300 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 293,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.6 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ALLETE

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of ALLETE by 5.8% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 964,193 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $60,118,000 after acquiring an additional 52,499 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its stake in ALLETE by 40.9% in the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 59,299 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,697,000 after purchasing an additional 17,200 shares during the period. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC grew its position in ALLETE by 147.1% during the 2nd quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC now owns 84,607 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,275,000 after purchasing an additional 50,361 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC raised its stake in ALLETE by 6.7% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 7,102 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $443,000 after purchasing an additional 447 shares during the period. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its holdings in shares of ALLETE by 6,668.6% in the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 239,204 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $14,941,000 after purchasing an additional 235,670 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.55% of the company’s stock.

ALLETE Price Performance

ALE stock traded up $0.10 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $65.71. 572,171 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 304,401. The company has a current ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $64.82 and a 200 day simple moving average of $64.22. ALLETE has a one year low of $55.86 and a one year high of $65.86. The company has a market cap of $3.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.06 and a beta of 0.80.

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

ALLETE Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th were given a $0.705 dividend. This is a positive change from ALLETE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. This represents a $2.82 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.29%. ALLETE’s payout ratio is 90.38%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on ALE shares. Sidoti upgraded ALLETE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of ALLETE in a report on Friday, January 10th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $61.33.

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.