ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) Shares Acquired by Alpine Associates Management Inc.

Alpine Associates Management Inc. increased its position in ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE - Free Report) by 12.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 398,047 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 45,447 shares during the quarter. ALLETE makes up 1.2% of Alpine Associates Management Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 25th biggest position. Alpine Associates Management Inc. owned 0.69% of ALLETE worth $25,551,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in shares of ALLETE by 261.0% during the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,083 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $70,000 after acquiring an additional 783 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of ALLETE by 4,157.1% during the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 1,192 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $71,000 after purchasing an additional 1,164 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new position in ALLETE in the 2nd quarter valued at about $74,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. acquired a new position in ALLETE during the second quarter valued at approximately $75,000. Finally, Summit Securities Group LLC acquired a new stake in ALLETE in the second quarter valued at about $158,000. 76.55% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ALE has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Sidoti upgraded ALLETE from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on ALLETE in a research note on Friday, November 15th. They issued a "hold" rating on the stock. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, ALLETE currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $62.00.

ALLETE Trading Down 0.6 %

NYSE:ALE traded down $0.40 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $64.14. The company had a trading volume of 182,605 shares, compared to its average volume of 352,144. 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, Inc. has a 52 week low of $54.71 and a 52 week high of $65.86. The company has a market capitalization of $3.71 billion, a PE ratio of 20.70 and a beta of 0.80. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $64.26 and a 200 day moving average price of $63.64.

ALLETE (NYSE:ALE - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.78 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $407.20 million during the quarter. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.49 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year.

ALLETE Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be given a dividend of $0.705 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $2.82 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.40%. This is an increase from ALLETE's previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. ALLETE's payout ratio is currently 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.