Putnam Investments LLC Sells 368 Shares of ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE)

Putnam Investments LLC trimmed its position in ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE – Get Rating) by 1.8% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 20,325 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 368 shares during the quarter. Putnam Investments LLC’s holdings in ALLETE were worth $1,018,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of ALE. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. boosted its position in ALLETE by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 17,411 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,166,000 after buying an additional 228 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. bought a new position in ALLETE in the 1st quarter valued at $204,000. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its position in ALLETE by 10.9% in the 1st quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 4,374 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $293,000 after buying an additional 431 shares during the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund bought a new position in ALLETE in the 1st quarter valued at $1,252,000. Finally, Great West Life Assurance Co. Can boosted its position in ALLETE by 11.7% in the 1st quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can now owns 30,291 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,085,000 after buying an additional 3,163 shares during the last quarter. 77.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on ALE. Guggenheim lowered ALLETE from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $53.00 to $54.00 in a research report on Monday, January 23rd. Mizuho reduced their price target on ALLETE from $66.00 to $64.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 24th. TheStreet upgraded ALLETE from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Friday, December 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded ALLETE from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $65.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 17th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded ALLETE from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $53.00 to $66.00 in a research report on Monday, November 14th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $62.80.

ALLETE Stock Performance

Shares of ALLETE stock opened at $61.15 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.50 billion, a PE ratio of 17.99, a PEG ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 0.72. ALLETE, Inc. has a 12 month low of $47.77 and a 12 month high of $68.46. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $62.44 and its 200 day simple moving average is $60.25.

ALLETE (NYSE:ALE – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 16th. The utilities provider reported $0.90 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.11 by ($0.21). The business had revenue of $425.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $404.81 million. ALLETE had a return on equity of 5.73% and a net margin of 12.05%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.18 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that ALLETE, Inc. will post 3.61 EPS for the current year.

ALLETE Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 15th were paid a $0.678 dividend. This is an increase from ALLETE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 14th. This represents a $2.71 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.43%. ALLETE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 79.71%.

ALLETE Profile

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ALLETE, Inc engages in the provision of electric and natural gas utility services. It operates through the following business segments: Regulated Operations, ALLETE Clean Energy, and Corporate and Other. The Regulated Operations segment includes regulated utilities, Minnesota Power, SWL&P, and investment in ATC, which regulates utilities that own and maintain electric transmission assets.