ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) Issues Quarterly Earnings Results

ALLETE (NYSE:ALE - Get Free Report) issued its earnings results on Wednesday. The utilities provider reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.99 by ($0.21), Briefing.com reports. ALLETE had a return on equity of 5.99% and a net margin of 11.49%. The firm had revenue of $407.20 million during the quarter. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.49 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 7.5% on a year-over-year basis.

ALLETE Trading Up 0.2 %

ALE stock traded up $0.14 during trading on Friday, hitting $64.05. The company had a trading volume of 207,548 shares, compared to its average volume of 235,562. The stock has a market cap of $3.70 billion, a PE ratio of 20.53 and a beta of 0.80. The business has a 50-day moving average of $63.98 and a 200-day moving average of $63.17. The company has a current ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. ALLETE has a one year low of $53.14 and a one year high of $65.86.

ALLETE Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $2.82 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.40%. This is an increase from ALLETE's previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. ALLETE's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 90.38%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on ALE. StockNews.com started coverage on ALLETE in a report on Wednesday. They set a "hold" rating on the stock. Sidoti raised shares of ALLETE from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $62.00.

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.