StockNews.com Begins Coverage on ALLETE (NYSE:ALE)

StockNews.com started coverage on shares of ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) in a research report report published on Friday morning. The brokerage issued a hold rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

ALLETE Stock Up 0.3 %

ALE stock opened at $64.06 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $63.85 and its 200-day moving average price is $62.11. ALLETE has a one year low of $49.29 and a one year high of $65.86. 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 firm has a market cap of $3.70 billion, a PE ratio of 15.40 and a beta of 0.80.

ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.87 by ($0.30). The company had revenue of $354.50 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $547.24 million. ALLETE had a net margin of 14.36% and a return on equity of 7.07%. The firm’s revenue was down 33.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.90 earnings per share.

ALLETE Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 15th were issued a $0.7005 dividend. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 15th. ALLETE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 67.79%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ALLETE

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ALE. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of ALLETE in the second quarter valued at about $74,000. Water Island Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of ALLETE during the second quarter valued at $11,583,000. Creative Planning lifted its stake in shares of ALLETE by 204.1% in the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 20,972 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,308,000 after acquiring an additional 14,076 shares during the period. Algert Global LLC raised its stake in shares of ALLETE by 16.5% in the 2nd quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 40,988 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,556,000 after buying an additional 5,808 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC boosted its holdings in ALLETE by 955.1% during the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 897,622 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $55,967,000 after buying an additional 812,548 shares in the last quarter. 76.55% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.