ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) Shares Bought by Quadrature Capital Ltd

Quadrature Capital Ltd lifted its stake in ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) by 148.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 17,041 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 10,175 shares during the period. Quadrature Capital Ltd’s holdings in ALLETE were worth $1,043,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Principal Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of ALLETE in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Allworth Financial LP lifted its stake in ALLETE by 131.2% during the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 467 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 265 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its stake in ALLETE by 139.4% during the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 699 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 407 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC acquired a new stake in ALLETE during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $77,000. Finally, Clear Street Markets LLC acquired a new stake in ALLETE during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $92,000. 76.55% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on ALE. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of ALLETE from $57.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 16th. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of ALLETE in a research note on Sunday, June 16th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and five have issued a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, ALLETE currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $60.40.

ALLETE Stock Down 0.3 %

ALLETE stock opened at $62.74 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $61.87 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $60.22. ALLETE, Inc. has a twelve month low of $49.29 and a twelve month high of $65.86. The firm has a market cap of $3.61 billion, a PE ratio of 15.08 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 1.66.

ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 9th. The utilities provider reported $0.97 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.09 by ($0.12). ALLETE had a return on equity of 7.21% and a net margin of 13.94%. The business had revenue of $403.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $581.26 million. On average, research analysts predict that ALLETE, Inc. will post 3.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ALLETE Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 15th were paid a dividend of $0.705 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 14th. This represents a $2.82 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.49%. ALLETE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 67.79%.

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.