ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) Now Covered by Analysts at StockNews.com

StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of ALLETE (NYSE:ALE - Free Report) in a research report sent to investors on Friday morning. 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 note on Monday, September 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, ALLETE has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $62.00.

ALLETE Stock Up 0.0 %

Shares of NYSE:ALE traded up $0.02 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $65.32. The company had a trading volume of 288,721 shares, compared to its average volume of 362,020. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.94 and a beta of 0.80. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $64.71 and its 200-day moving average price is $64.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 1.45 and a quick ratio of 0.95. ALLETE has a one year low of $55.86 and a one year high of $65.86.

ALLETE (NYSE:ALE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 business had revenue of $407.20 million during the quarter. ALLETE had a return on equity of 5.99% and a net margin of 11.49%. The business's revenue was up 7.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.49 EPS.

ALLETE Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th were given a $0.705 dividend. This is a positive change from ALLETE's previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. This represents a $2.82 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.32%. ALLETE's payout ratio is 90.38%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Arizona State Retirement System lifted its position in shares of ALLETE by 2.2% in the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 16,143 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,007,000 after purchasing an additional 347 shares in the last quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of ALLETE during the 2nd quarter valued at $170,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale purchased a new position in shares of ALLETE during the 2nd quarter valued at $677,000. Inspire Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of ALLETE in the second quarter worth $1,802,000. Finally, WINTON GROUP Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of ALLETE during the second quarter worth $3,572,000. 76.55% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.