ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at StockNews.com

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

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

ALLETE Price Performance

NYSE:ALE traded up $0.60 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $64.65. 508,616 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 418,477. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 1.45. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $63.18 and its 200 day simple moving average is $60.68. ALLETE has a 1 year low of $49.29 and a 1 year high of $65.86. The company has a market cap of $3.73 billion, a PE ratio of 15.54 and a beta of 0.80.

ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.57 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.87 by ($0.30). ALLETE had a net margin of 14.36% and a return on equity of 7.07%. The business had revenue of $354.50 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $547.24 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.90 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 33.6% compared to the same quarter last year.

ALLETE Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, September 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, August 15th will be paid a $0.7005 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.33%. ALLETE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 67.79%.

Institutional Trading of ALLETE

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of ALLETE during the first quarter worth about $854,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew 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 worth $54,355,000 after acquiring an additional 24,690 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners grew its position in shares of ALLETE by 23.6% during the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 19,120 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,169,000 after acquiring an additional 3,647 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its position in shares of ALLETE by 167.1% during the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 34,723 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,071,000 after acquiring an additional 21,725 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Gilliland Jeter Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of ALLETE during the fourth quarter worth about $801,000. Institutional investors own 76.55% of the company’s stock.

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.