Barclays PLC Increases Stock Holdings in ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE)

Barclays PLC raised its position in ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE - Free Report) by 187.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 100,079 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 65,222 shares during the quarter. Barclays PLC owned approximately 0.17% of ALLETE worth $6,425,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC purchased a new position in shares of ALLETE during the third quarter worth about $38,000. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its position in ALLETE by 261.0% during the 3rd 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 during the period. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of ALLETE in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $74,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. acquired a new position in shares of ALLETE in the second quarter valued at approximately $75,000. Finally, Summit Securities Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of ALLETE in the second quarter valued at approximately $158,000. 76.55% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on ALE. Sidoti upgraded shares of ALLETE from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of ALLETE in a research note on Tuesday. They set a "hold" rating on the stock. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, ALLETE currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $62.00.

ALLETE Price Performance

ALE stock traded down $0.10 on Friday, reaching $64.50. 1,037,225 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 290,165. ALLETE, Inc. has a twelve month low of $55.86 and a twelve month high of $65.86. 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 has a fifty day moving average of $64.56 and a 200-day moving average of $63.90. The firm has a market cap of $3.73 billion, a PE ratio of 20.67 and a beta of 0.81.

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

ALLETE Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th were paid a dividend of $0.705 per share. 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 dividend yield of 4.37%. ALLETE's payout ratio is 90.38%.

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.