ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) Shares Sold by Thrivent Financial for Lutherans

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans reduced its holdings in ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) by 29.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 19,741 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 8,352 shares during the quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings in ALLETE were worth $1,267,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its stake in ALLETE by 4,157.1% during the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 1,192 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $71,000 after purchasing an additional 1,164 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in ALLETE by 9.1% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 80,559 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,806,000 after acquiring an additional 6,695 shares during the last quarter. Comerica Bank grew its position in ALLETE by 29.3% during the first quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 32,826 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,958,000 after acquiring an additional 7,446 shares during the period. Boston Partners increased its stake in ALLETE by 59.2% during the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 30,441 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,816,000 after acquiring an additional 11,321 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC raised its holdings in shares of ALLETE by 12.3% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,827 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $239,000 after purchasing an additional 420 shares during the period. 76.55% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on ALE. Sidoti upgraded ALLETE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of ALLETE in a research report on Sunday. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $62.00.

ALLETE Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ALE opened at $64.88 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.79 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a 50 day moving average of $64.42 and a two-hundred day moving average of $63.73. ALLETE, Inc. has a 52-week low of $54.90 and a 52-week high of $65.86. 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 quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by ($0.21). ALLETE had a net margin of 11.49% and a return on equity of 5.99%. The firm had revenue of $407.20 million for the quarter. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.49 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.5% on a year-over-year basis.

ALLETE Increases Dividend

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