Loomis Sayles & Co. L P Sells 9,353 Shares of ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE)

Loomis Sayles & Co. L P lowered its holdings in shares of ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) by 6.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 146,189 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 9,353 shares during the quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P owned about 0.25% of ALLETE worth $9,384,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. UMB Bank n.a. raised its holdings in shares of ALLETE by 261.0% during the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,083 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $70,000 after purchasing an additional 783 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in ALLETE by 4,157.1% in the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 1,192 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $71,000 after acquiring an additional 1,164 shares during the period. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new position in ALLETE in the 2nd quarter worth $74,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. bought a new position in ALLETE in the 2nd quarter worth $75,000. Finally, Summit Securities Group LLC bought a new position in ALLETE in the 2nd quarter worth $158,000. Institutional investors own 76.55% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently commented on ALE shares. Sidoti upgraded shares of ALLETE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of ALLETE in a report on Saturday, November 23rd. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $62.00.

ALLETE Price Performance

Shares of ALLETE stock opened at $64.87 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.45. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $64.35 and its 200-day simple moving average is $63.70. ALLETE, Inc. has a twelve month low of $54.90 and a twelve month high of $65.86. The firm has a market cap of $3.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.79 and a beta of 0.80.

ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) last issued its earnings results 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). The business had revenue of $407.20 million for the quarter. ALLETE had a net margin of 11.49% and a return on equity of 5.99%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.49 EPS.

ALLETE Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.705 per share. This represents a $2.82 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.35%. This is a boost from ALLETE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. ALLETE’s dividend payout ratio is currently 90.38%.

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.