Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. Increases Holdings in ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE)

Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. lifted its holdings in ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE - Free Report) by 100.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 80,000 shares of the utilities provider's stock after acquiring an additional 40,000 shares during the period. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. owned 0.14% of ALLETE worth $5,135,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ALE. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC bought a new position in ALLETE in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $38,000. UMB Bank n.a. grew its stake in ALLETE by 261.0% during the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,083 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $70,000 after acquiring an additional 783 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new stake in ALLETE in the 2nd quarter valued at $74,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in ALLETE in the 2nd quarter worth $75,000. Finally, Summit Securities Group LLC bought a new position in shares of ALLETE during the 2nd quarter valued at about $158,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.55% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ALE has been the topic of several research reports. Sidoti raised 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 research report on Sunday. They issued a "hold" rating on the stock. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, ALLETE currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $62.00.

ALLETE Trading Up 0.0 %

NYSE:ALE traded up $0.01 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $64.76. 255,379 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 349,569. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. ALLETE, Inc. has a 52 week low of $55.86 and a 52 week high of $65.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.75 and a beta of 0.81. The firm's 50 day moving average is $64.46 and its two-hundred day moving average is $63.77.

ALLETE (NYSE:ALE - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.99 by ($0.21). ALLETE had a net margin of 11.49% and a return on equity of 5.99%. The business had revenue of $407.20 million for the quarter. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.49 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 7.5% on a year-over-year basis.

ALLETE Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th were given a dividend of $0.705 per share. This represents a $2.82 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.35%. This is an increase from ALLETE's previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. ALLETE's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.