Rhumbline Advisers Purchases 7,153 Shares of ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE)

Rhumbline Advisers lifted its stake in shares of ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE - Free Report) by 3.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 209,532 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 7,153 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers owned 0.36% of ALLETE worth $13,578,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Quest Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of ALLETE by 249.1% during the 3rd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 34,367 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,206,000 after purchasing an additional 24,523 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of ALLETE by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 766,343 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $49,192,000 after purchasing an additional 7,739 shares during the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. increased its stake in shares of ALLETE by 28.3% during the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 129,635 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $8,321,000 after purchasing an additional 28,612 shares during the last quarter. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. increased its stake in shares of ALLETE by 100.0% during the 3rd quarter. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. now owns 80,000 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $5,135,000 after purchasing an additional 40,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of ALLETE by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,459,692 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $157,888,000 after purchasing an additional 13,335 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.55% of the company's stock.

ALLETE Stock Performance

ALLETE stock traded down $0.07 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $65.45. The company's stock had a trading volume of 239,554 shares, compared to its average volume of 371,456. ALLETE, Inc. has a 12-month low of $55.86 and a 12-month high of $65.99. The company has a market capitalization of $3.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.11 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 1.08. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $65.27 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $64.57.

ALLETE (NYSE:ALE - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The utilities provider reported $0.87 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.02 by ($0.15). ALLETE had a net margin of 11.72% and a return on equity of 5.97%.

ALLETE Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a $0.73 dividend. This represents a $2.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.46%. This is an increase from ALLETE's previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. ALLETE's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 94.19%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of ALLETE in a research note on Friday, January 10th. They set a "hold" rating for the company.

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.