State of Alaska Department of Revenue Purchases 455 Shares of ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE)

State of Alaska Department of Revenue increased its position in shares of ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) by 7.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,666 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 455 shares during the quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue’s holdings in ALLETE were worth $427,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in ALLETE by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,615,496 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $394,548,000 after purchasing an additional 35,992 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of ALLETE by 5.8% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 964,193 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $60,118,000 after buying an additional 52,499 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC lifted its holdings in ALLETE by 955.1% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 897,622 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $55,967,000 after buying an additional 812,548 shares during the period. Gabelli Funds LLC boosted its stake in ALLETE by 59.1% in the second quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 441,564 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $27,532,000 after acquiring an additional 164,064 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in ALLETE by 9.9% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 385,750 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $24,052,000 after acquiring an additional 34,810 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.55% of the company’s stock.

ALLETE Stock Up 0.8 %

ALE stock opened at $65.18 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $3.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.89 and a beta of 0.80. ALLETE, Inc. has a twelve month low of $53.14 and a twelve month high of $65.86. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $64.11 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $63.38. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51.

ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.99 by ($0.21). The firm had revenue of $407.20 million during the quarter. ALLETE had a net margin of 11.49% and a return on equity of 5.99%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.49 earnings per share.

ALLETE Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th will be paid a $0.705 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $2.82 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.33%. This is a positive change from ALLETE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. ALLETE’s dividend payout ratio is 90.38%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Sidoti raised ALLETE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. StockNews.com started coverage on ALLETE in a research note on Thursday. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $62.00.

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.