Vanguard Group Inc. Increases Stake in ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE)

Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) by 2.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 6,579,504 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 176,709 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 11.43% of ALLETE worth $402,402,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Principal Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in ALLETE during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Allworth Financial LP grew its holdings in ALLETE by 131.2% during the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 467 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 265 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of ALLETE by 139.4% during the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 699 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 407 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new position in shares of ALLETE during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $77,000. Finally, Clear Street Markets LLC bought a new position in shares of ALLETE during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $92,000. 76.55% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

ALLETE Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of ALE opened at $62.40 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $3.59 billion, a PE ratio of 15.00 and a beta of 0.79. The business has a fifty day moving average of $62.34 and a 200 day moving average of $60.30. ALLETE, Inc. has a 52-week low of $49.29 and a 52-week high of $65.86. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52.

ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 9th. The utilities provider reported $0.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.09 by ($0.12). The company had revenue of $403.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $581.26 million. ALLETE had a return on equity of 7.21% and a net margin of 13.94%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that ALLETE, Inc. will post 3.75 EPS for the current year.

ALLETE Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 15th were paid a $0.705 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 14th. This represents a $2.82 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.52%. ALLETE’s payout ratio is 67.79%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. StockNews.com assumed coverage on ALLETE in a research report on Monday. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Mizuho increased their target price on ALLETE from $57.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 16th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $62.00.

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.