StockNews.com Begins Coverage on ALLETE (NYSE:ALE)

StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) in a report issued on Monday. The brokerage set a “hold” rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

Separately, Sidoti upgraded shares of ALLETE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $62.00.

ALLETE Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ALE opened at $64.34 on Monday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $63.84 and its 200-day moving average price is $62.71. ALLETE has a twelve month low of $52.14 and a twelve month high of $65.86. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.72 billion, a PE ratio of 15.47 and a beta of 0.80.

ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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). ALLETE had a return on equity of 7.07% and a net margin of 14.36%. The business had revenue of $354.50 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $547.24 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.90 EPS. ALLETE’s revenue for the quarter was down 33.6% on a year-over-year basis.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ALLETE

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Congress Asset Management Co. MA raised its position in shares of ALLETE by 1.3% during the first quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. MA now owns 18,431 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,099,000 after buying an additional 233 shares during the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System raised its position in shares of ALLETE by 2.2% during the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 16,143 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,007,000 after buying an additional 347 shares during the last quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System raised its position in shares of ALLETE by 2.9% during the first quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 14,146 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $844,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC raised its position in shares of ALLETE by 12.3% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,827 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $239,000 after buying an additional 420 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC raised its position in shares of ALLETE by 6.7% during the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 7,102 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $443,000 after buying an additional 447 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.55% of the company’s stock.

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.