6,574 Shares in ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) Purchased by Blackston Financial Advisory Group LLC

Blackston Financial Advisory Group LLC acquired a new position in ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 6,574 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $402,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of ALE. Belpointe Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of ALLETE by 105.4% during the first quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 460 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 236 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its holdings in ALLETE by 85.6% in the third quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 566 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 261 shares during the period. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in shares of ALLETE during the 2nd quarter worth about $34,000. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in ALLETE by 131.3% during the third quarter. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC now owns 710 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 403 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its position in shares of ALLETE by 921.4% during the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 715 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 645 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.55% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently commented on the stock. Sidoti cut shares of ALLETE from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $64.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on ALLETE from $57.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, Guggenheim upgraded shares of ALLETE from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $58.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday, January 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and five have given a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $58.60.

ALLETE Price Performance

ALE opened at $58.79 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The firm has a market cap of $3.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.67, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.75. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $58.09 and its 200 day moving average price is $57.24. ALLETE, Inc. has a 12-month low of $49.29 and a 12-month high of $66.69.

ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.97 by ($0.08). The company had revenue of $402.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $425.21 million. ALLETE had a return on equity of 7.31% and a net margin of 13.15%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.90 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that ALLETE, Inc. will post 3.75 earnings per share for the current year.

ALLETE Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 15th were issued a dividend of $0.705 per share. This represents a $2.82 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.80%. This is an increase from ALLETE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 14th. ALLETE’s payout ratio is 65.58%.

About ALLETE

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.