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

by · The Markets Daily

StockNews.com started coverage on shares of ALLETE (NYSE:ALE – Free Report) in a research note released on Sunday morning. The brokerage issued a hold rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

Separately, Sidoti raised shares of ALLETE from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $62.00.

Get Our Latest Stock Analysis on ALLETE

ALLETE Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of ALE opened at $64.25 on Friday. ALLETE has a 12 month low of $52.14 and a 12 month high of $65.86. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $63.84 and its 200-day moving average is $62.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.71 billion, a PE ratio of 15.44 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a current ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51.

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

ALLETE Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, September 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, August 15th were paid a $0.7005 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.36%. ALLETE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 67.79%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in ALLETE by 0.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,615,496 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $394,548,000 after acquiring an additional 35,992 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in ALLETE by 5.8% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 964,193 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $60,118,000 after acquiring an additional 52,499 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC increased its stake in ALLETE by 955.1% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 897,622 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $55,967,000 after acquiring an additional 812,548 shares during the last quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC boosted its position in ALLETE by 59.1% in the second quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 441,564 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $27,532,000 after buying an additional 164,064 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in ALLETE by 9.9% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 385,750 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $24,052,000 after buying an additional 34,810 shares in the last quarter. 76.55% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About ALLETE

(Get Free Report)

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.

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