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

StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) in a report published on Wednesday morning. The brokerage 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 company a neutral rating in a report on Thursday, May 16th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $62.00.

ALLETE Stock Performance

NYSE ALE opened at $63.51 on Wednesday. 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’s fifty day moving average price is $62.85 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $60.42. ALLETE has a 1 year low of $49.29 and a 1 year high of $65.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.27 and a beta of 0.80.

ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 9th. The utilities provider reported $0.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $581.26 million. As a group, research analysts anticipate that ALLETE will post 3.75 EPS for the current year.

ALLETE Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, June 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 15th were paid a $0.705 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 14th. This represents a $2.82 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.44%. ALLETE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 67.79%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ALLETE

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Principal Securities Inc. acquired a new position in shares of ALLETE in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Allworth Financial LP grew its stake in shares of ALLETE by 131.2% in the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 467 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 265 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of ALLETE by 139.4% in the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 699 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 407 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of ALLETE by 4,157.1% in the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 1,192 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $71,000 after acquiring an additional 1,164 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC acquired a new stake in ALLETE during the fourth quarter worth about $77,000. 76.55% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.