Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC Lowers Stock Position in ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE)

Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC lowered its stake in ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE - Free Report) by 5.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 185,862 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 9,900 shares during the quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC owned 0.32% of ALLETE worth $11,930,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ALE. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC purchased a new position in shares of ALLETE during the 3rd quarter valued at $38,000. UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in ALLETE by 261.0% in the 3rd 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 during 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. bought a new stake in ALLETE in the 2nd quarter valued at $75,000. Finally, Summit Securities Group LLC bought a new stake in ALLETE in the 2nd quarter valued at $158,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.55% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have issued reports on the stock. Sidoti upgraded shares of ALLETE from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of ALLETE in a report on Sunday. They issued a "hold" rating on the stock. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $62.00.

ALLETE Price Performance

Shares of ALLETE stock traded up $0.14 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $64.73. The company's stock had a trading volume of 242,120 shares, compared to its average volume of 349,963. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $64.45 and a 200-day moving average price of $63.76. ALLETE, Inc. has a one year low of $55.82 and a one year high of $65.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 1.45 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The stock has a market cap of $3.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.70 and a beta of 0.81.

ALLETE (NYSE:ALE - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly 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 return on equity of 5.99% and a net margin of 11.49%. The firm had revenue of $407.20 million for the quarter. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.49 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year.

ALLETE Increases Dividend

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

ALLETE 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.