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

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

ALLETE Trading Down 0.3 %

ALLETE stock opened at $64.19 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The firm has a market cap of $3.71 billion, a PE ratio of 15.43 and a beta of 0.80. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $63.88 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $62.33. ALLETE has a 12 month low of $49.29 and a 12 month high of $65.86.

ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $547.24 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.90 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 33.6% on a year-over-year basis.

ALLETE Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 15th were given a dividend of $0.7005 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.37%. ALLETE’s dividend payout ratio is currently 67.79%.

Institutional Trading of ALLETE

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. UBS Group AG increased its holdings in ALLETE by 41.0% in the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 113,570 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,946,000 after acquiring an additional 33,029 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of ALLETE by 139.4% during the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 699 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 407 shares in the last quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of ALLETE during the 4th quarter worth about $508,000. Magellan Asset Management Ltd lifted its stake in ALLETE by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Magellan Asset Management Ltd now owns 47,862 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,927,000 after buying an additional 645 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quadrature Capital Ltd boosted its holdings in ALLETE by 148.2% in the 4th quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 17,041 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,043,000 after buying an additional 10,175 shares during the last quarter. 76.55% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.