Retirement Systems of Alabama Sells 970 Shares of ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE)

Retirement Systems of Alabama lowered its stake in ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 184,606 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 970 shares during the quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama owned 0.32% of ALLETE worth $11,510,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in ALLETE by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,579,504 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $402,402,000 after buying an additional 176,709 shares during the last quarter. Invenomic Capital Management LP boosted its holdings in shares of ALLETE by 154.5% during the first quarter. Invenomic Capital Management LP now owns 250,895 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $14,963,000 after purchasing an additional 152,294 shares during the period. Corient Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of ALLETE in the fourth quarter worth about $3,965,000. UBS Group AG increased its holdings in ALLETE by 41.0% during the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 113,570 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $6,946,000 after purchasing an additional 33,029 shares during the period. Finally, Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC purchased a new position in ALLETE during the 1st quarter valued at about $1,703,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.55% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on ALE shares. StockNews.com started coverage on ALLETE in a research report on Monday, August 19th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of ALLETE from $57.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 16th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $62.00.

ALLETE Stock Down 0.0 %

Shares of NYSE:ALE traded down $0.03 during trading on Friday, hitting $63.30. The stock had a trading volume of 187,774 shares, compared to its average volume of 394,448. The company has a market capitalization of $3.66 billion, a PE ratio of 15.22 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $63.44 and its 200 day moving average is $61.16. ALLETE, Inc. has a 12 month low of $49.29 and a 12 month high of $65.86.

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

ALLETE Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, September 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, August 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.7005 per share. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 15th. ALLETE’s payout ratio is currently 67.79%.

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.