ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at StockNews.com

StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of ALLETE (NYSE:ALE - Free Report) in a report released on Friday. The firm issued a hold rating on the utilities provider's stock.

Separately, Sidoti upgraded shares of ALLETE from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $62.00.

ALLETE Stock Performance

ALLETE stock traded down $0.22 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $64.32. The company had a trading volume of 76,265 shares, compared to its average volume of 353,431. 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 has a 52 week low of $54.71 and a 52 week high of $65.86. The company has a 50 day moving average of $64.22 and a 200-day moving average of $63.52. The firm has a market cap of $3.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.69 and a beta of 0.80.

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

ALLETE Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be issued a $0.705 dividend. This is an increase from ALLETE's previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. This represents a $2.82 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.38%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. ALLETE's payout ratio is currently 90.38%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ALLETE

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. QRG Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in ALLETE during the first quarter worth about $439,000. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of ALLETE in the first quarter worth about $410,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of ALLETE by 0.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,615,496 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $394,548,000 after acquiring an additional 35,992 shares during the last quarter. TIAA Trust National Association lifted its holdings in shares of ALLETE by 69.0% in the first quarter. TIAA Trust National Association now owns 6,231 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $372,000 after acquiring an additional 2,544 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of ALLETE by 1,118.1% in the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 2,156 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $129,000 after acquiring an additional 1,979 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.55% of the company's stock.

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.