ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) Announces Quarterly Earnings Results, Misses Estimates By $0.21 EPS

ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday. The utilities provider reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by ($0.21), Briefing.com reports. The company had revenue of $407.20 million during the quarter. ALLETE had a net margin of 11.49% and a return on equity of 5.99%. The business’s revenue was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.49 EPS.

ALLETE Trading Up 0.2 %

NYSE ALE traded up $0.14 on Friday, hitting $64.05. 207,548 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 358,500. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 1.45. ALLETE has a 52-week low of $53.14 and a 52-week high of $65.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.54 and a beta of 0.80. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $63.98 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $63.17.

ALLETE Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th will be given a $0.705 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. This is an increase from ALLETE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. This represents a $2.82 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.40%. ALLETE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 90.38%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ALE has been the topic of a number of research reports. StockNews.com initiated coverage on ALLETE in a research note on Wednesday. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Sidoti raised shares of ALLETE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, ALLETE has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $62.00.

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.