State Street Corp Acquires 13,335 Shares of ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE)

State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE - Free Report) by 0.5% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,459,692 shares of the utilities provider's stock after acquiring an additional 13,335 shares during the quarter. State Street Corp owned about 4.25% of ALLETE worth $157,888,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC purchased a new stake in ALLETE in the third quarter worth approximately $38,000. UMB Bank n.a. lifted 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 buying an additional 783 shares during the period. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of ALLETE in the 2nd quarter worth $74,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of ALLETE in the second quarter worth $75,000. Finally, Summit Securities Group LLC purchased a new stake in ALLETE during the second quarter valued at $158,000. 76.55% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

ALLETE Stock Performance

NYSE:ALE traded up $0.09 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $64.64. 211,466 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 350,202. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $64.53 and its 200-day moving average price is $63.84. The firm has a market cap of $3.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.72 and a beta of 0.81. ALLETE, Inc. has a one year low of $55.86 and a one year high of $65.86.

ALLETE (NYSE:ALE - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.99 by ($0.21). The company 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%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.49 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year.

ALLETE Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th were paid a $0.705 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 15th. This is a boost from ALLETE's previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. This represents a $2.82 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.36%. ALLETE's dividend payout ratio is 90.38%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have issued reports on ALE shares. Sidoti raised ALLETE from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of ALLETE in a research note on Monday, December 9th. They issued a "hold" rating on the stock. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average 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.