Principal Financial Group Inc. Decreases Stake in ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE)

Principal Financial Group Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE – Get Rating) by 70.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 245,193 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 590,632 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in ALLETE were worth $15,817,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of ALLETE by 1.3% in the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 17,411 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,166,000 after purchasing an additional 228 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of ALLETE during the first quarter worth approximately $204,000. HighTower Advisors LLC grew its holdings in ALLETE by 10.9% during the 1st quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 4,374 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $293,000 after acquiring an additional 431 shares in the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund bought a new stake in ALLETE in the first quarter valued at about $1,252,000. Finally, Great West Life Assurance Co. Can lifted its stake in ALLETE by 11.7% during the first quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can now owns 30,291 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,085,000 after purchasing an additional 3,163 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.52% of the company’s stock.

ALLETE Price Performance

Shares of ALLETE stock opened at $61.96 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $63.23 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $63.18. ALLETE, Inc. has a 1-year low of $47.77 and a 1-year high of $67.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.48, a P/E/G ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52.

ALLETE (NYSE:ALE – Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 3rd. The utilities provider reported $1.02 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19 by ($0.17). ALLETE had a return on equity of 5.40% and a net margin of 10.34%. The firm had revenue of $564.90 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $376.00 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.24 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 47.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that ALLETE, Inc. will post 3.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ALLETE Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 1st. Investors of record on Monday, May 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.678 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 12th. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.38%. ALLETE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 85.22%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently issued reports on ALE. Mizuho reduced their price objective on ALLETE from $66.00 to $64.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 24th. Sidoti raised ALLETE from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $74.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 6th. Bank of America lowered shares of ALLETE from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $66.00 to $63.00 in a research report on Friday, May 5th. StockNews.com began coverage on ALLETE in a report on Thursday, May 18th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on ALLETE from $67.00 to $65.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, ALLETE has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $64.17.

About ALLETE

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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.