Natixis Advisors LLC Sells 1,286 Shares of ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE)

Natixis Advisors LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) by 9.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 12,336 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,286 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC’s holdings in ALLETE were worth $792,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in ALLETE by 1.8% in the third quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 18,928 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,215,000 after purchasing an additional 327 shares in the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System increased its stake in ALLETE by 2.2% in the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 16,143 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,007,000 after purchasing an additional 347 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC increased its stake in ALLETE by 12.3% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,827 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $239,000 after purchasing an additional 420 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC increased its stake in ALLETE by 6.7% in the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 7,102 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $443,000 after purchasing an additional 447 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Inspire Advisors LLC increased its stake in ALLETE by 1.6% in the third quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC now owns 29,347 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,884,000 after purchasing an additional 450 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.55% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ALE has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Sidoti upgraded shares of ALLETE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of ALLETE in a report on Saturday, November 23rd. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $62.00.

ALLETE Price Performance

NYSE:ALE opened at $64.87 on Thursday. ALLETE, Inc. has a 52 week low of $54.90 and a 52 week high of $65.86. The firm has a market cap of $3.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.79 and a beta of 0.80. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $64.35 and its 200 day simple moving average is $63.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.45.

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

ALLETE Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th will be given a dividend of $0.705 per share. This represents a $2.82 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.35%. This is a positive change from ALLETE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. ALLETE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 90.38%.

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.