ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) Shares Sold by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. lowered its stake in ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) by 21.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 180,339 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 50,258 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.31% of ALLETE worth $11,576,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in ALLETE by 9.8% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 65,056 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,190,000 after purchasing an additional 5,799 shares in the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new position in shares of ALLETE in the third quarter worth approximately $282,000. Geode Capital Management LLC raised 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 acquiring an additional 21,850 shares during the period. Barclays PLC lifted its position in shares of ALLETE by 187.1% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 100,079 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $6,425,000 after acquiring an additional 65,222 shares in the last quarter. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new position in ALLETE in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $779,000. 76.55% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on ALE. Sidoti raised shares of ALLETE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. StockNews.com began coverage on ALLETE in a research report on Wednesday, December 25th. 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, ALLETE has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $62.00.

ALLETE Stock Down 0.3 %

ALLETE stock opened at $64.43 on Monday. ALLETE, Inc. has a twelve month low of $55.86 and a twelve month high of $65.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.45. The firm has a market cap of $3.73 billion, a PE ratio of 20.65 and a beta of 0.81. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $64.57 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $63.96.

ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) last posted 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). The company had revenue of $407.20 million during the quarter. ALLETE had a return on equity of 5.99% and a net margin of 11.49%. The company’s revenue was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.49 earnings per share.

ALLETE Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th were paid a dividend of $0.705 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. This is an increase from ALLETE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. This represents a $2.82 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.38%. ALLETE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 90.38%.

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.