Creative Planning Increases Holdings in ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE)

Creative Planning grew its holdings in ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) by 204.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 20,972 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 14,076 shares during the quarter. Creative Planning’s holdings in ALLETE were worth $1,308,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ALE. Algert Global LLC lifted its stake in ALLETE by 16.5% in the second quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 40,988 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,556,000 after acquiring an additional 5,808 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC lifted its position in shares of ALLETE by 955.1% in the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 897,622 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $55,967,000 after purchasing an additional 812,548 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of ALLETE by 9.9% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 385,750 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $24,052,000 after purchasing an additional 34,810 shares during the period. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of ALLETE during the 2nd quarter valued at about $74,000. Finally, Point72 Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new position in shares of ALLETE during the second quarter valued at about $1,162,000. 76.55% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Sidoti raised ALLETE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on ALLETE in a research report on Sunday. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $62.00.

ALLETE Trading Down 0.2 %

NYSE:ALE opened at $63.99 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.38 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 1.45 and a quick ratio of 0.83. ALLETE, Inc. has a one year low of $52.14 and a one year high of $65.86. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $63.84 and its 200 day simple moving average is $62.59.

ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.57 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.87 by ($0.30). The company had revenue of $354.50 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $547.24 million. ALLETE had a return on equity of 7.07% and a net margin of 14.36%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 33.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.90 EPS.

ALLETE Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, September 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, August 15th were paid a $0.7005 dividend. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 15th. ALLETE’s payout ratio 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.