ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) Now Covered by StockNews.com

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

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

ALLETE Stock Performance

Shares of ALE opened at $63.33 on Monday. ALLETE has a 12 month low of $49.29 and a 12 month high of $65.86. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $63.43 and a 200 day simple moving average of $61.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.23 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a current ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51.

ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) 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 analyst estimates of $547.24 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.90 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 33.6% compared to the same quarter last year.

ALLETE Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 15th will be given a dividend of $0.7005 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.42%. ALLETE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 67.79%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ALLETE

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ALE. Principal Securities Inc. bought a new position in ALLETE during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its position in 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 during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its position in ALLETE by 4,157.1% during the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 1,192 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $71,000 after purchasing an additional 1,164 shares during the period. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new position in ALLETE during the second quarter worth $74,000. Finally, Hantz Financial Services Inc. bought a new position in ALLETE during the second quarter worth $75,000. 76.55% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.