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

GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) by 43.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,869 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 568 shares during the quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC’s holdings in ALLETE were worth $111,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in ALE. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of ALLETE by 263.7% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 395,962 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $20,907,000 after buying an additional 287,088 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in shares of ALLETE by 112.0% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 504,362 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $30,847,000 after buying an additional 266,505 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of ALLETE by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,579,504 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $402,402,000 after buying an additional 176,709 shares in the last quarter. HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of ALLETE during the fourth quarter worth about $9,436,000. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in ALLETE by 29.7% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 564,120 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $29,786,000 after purchasing an additional 129,104 shares in the last quarter. 76.55% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

ALLETE Price Performance

ALE stock opened at $62.91 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.12 and a beta of 0.79. ALLETE, Inc. has a twelve month low of $49.29 and a twelve month high of $65.86. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $61.96 and a 200-day simple moving average of $60.26. The company has a current ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52.

ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 9th. The utilities provider reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.09 by ($0.12). The firm had revenue of $403.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $581.26 million. ALLETE had a net margin of 13.94% and a return on equity of 7.21%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that ALLETE, Inc. will post 3.75 EPS for the current year.

ALLETE Announces Dividend

The business 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. This represents a $2.82 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 14th. ALLETE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 67.79%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ALE has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com initiated coverage on ALLETE in a report on Sunday, June 16th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Mizuho upped their price target on ALLETE from $57.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and five have given a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $60.40.

ALLETE 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.