ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at StockNews.com

Stock analysts at StockNews.com started coverage on shares of ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) in a report released on Tuesday. The firm 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 report on Monday, September 30th. Four 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.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $62.00.

ALLETE Price Performance

ALLETE stock opened at $64.68 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.73 and a beta of 0.81. The business has a 50-day moving average of $64.54 and a 200-day moving average of $63.88. The company has a current ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. ALLETE has a 1 year low of $55.86 and a 1 year high of $65.86.

ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) last posted 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). 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 in the previous year, the company posted $1.49 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.5% on a year-over-year basis.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of ALLETE by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,459,692 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $157,888,000 after purchasing an additional 13,335 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of ALLETE by 1.6% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,395,362 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $89,584,000 after buying an additional 21,850 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position 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 acquiring an additional 52,499 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC raised its position in ALLETE by 955.1% in the 2nd 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 last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of ALLETE by 1.0% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 766,343 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $49,192,000 after purchasing an additional 7,739 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.