ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) Stock Position Lifted by Creative Planning

Creative Planning lifted its stake in shares of ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE - Free Report) by 204.1% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 20,972 shares of the utilities provider's stock after acquiring an additional 14,076 shares during the quarter. Creative Planning's holdings in ALLETE were worth $1,308,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Algert Global LLC increased its position in shares of ALLETE by 16.5% during the 2nd quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 40,988 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $2,556,000 after purchasing an additional 5,808 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in ALLETE by 955.1% during the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 897,622 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $55,967,000 after buying an additional 812,548 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in ALLETE by 9.9% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 385,750 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $24,052,000 after acquiring an additional 34,810 shares during the period. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new stake in ALLETE in the second quarter worth about $74,000. Finally, Point72 Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new stake in ALLETE in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,162,000. Institutional investors own 76.55% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ALE has been the topic of several recent research reports. Sidoti raised shares of ALLETE from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of ALLETE in a research report on Sunday. They issued a "hold" rating on the stock. Four investment 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.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $62.00.

ALLETE Trading Up 0.4 %

ALE traded up $0.26 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $64.25. The company had a trading volume of 260,749 shares, compared to its average volume of 369,114. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $63.84 and its 200 day simple moving average is $62.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 1.45. The company has a market cap of $3.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.44 and a beta of 0.80. ALLETE, Inc. has a 12-month low of $52.14 and a 12-month high of $65.86.

ALLETE (NYSE:ALE - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.57 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.87 by ($0.30). The firm had revenue of $354.50 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $547.24 million. ALLETE had a return on equity of 7.07% and a net margin of 14.36%. The business's revenue was down 33.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.90 earnings per share.

ALLETE Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 15th were issued a $0.7005 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.36%. ALLETE's payout ratio is currently 67.79%.

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.