1,301 Shares in ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) Acquired by GAMMA Investing LLC

GAMMA Investing LLC acquired a new position in shares of ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 1,301 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $77,000.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its position in ALLETE by 6.6% in the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 10,746 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $567,000 after purchasing an additional 666 shares during the last quarter. GW Henssler & Associates Ltd. bought a new position in ALLETE in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $233,000. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its position in ALLETE by 29.0% in the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 9,499 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $502,000 after acquiring an additional 2,135 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its stake in ALLETE by 1,278.6% during the 3rd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 51,766 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,613,000 after acquiring an additional 48,011 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Strs Ohio raised its stake in ALLETE by 455.3% during the 3rd quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 21,100 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,114,000 after acquiring an additional 17,300 shares in the last quarter. 76.55% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on ALE. Guggenheim raised ALLETE from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $58.00 price target on the stock in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Sidoti downgraded shares of ALLETE from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $64.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of ALLETE from $57.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and five have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $58.60.

ALLETE Price Performance

Shares of ALLETE stock opened at $59.23 on Wednesday. ALLETE, Inc. has a 52 week low of $49.29 and a 52 week high of $63.71. 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 company’s 50-day moving average price is $58.36 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $58.10. The stock has a market cap of $3.41 billion, a PE ratio of 13.77 and a beta of 0.75.

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

ALLETE Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.705 per share. This represents a $2.82 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.76%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 14th. ALLETE’s dividend 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.