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

Equities research analysts at StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) in a research report issued on Friday. The firm set a “hold” rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

Separately, Sidoti raised shares of ALLETE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $62.00.

ALLETE Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of ALLETE stock opened at $65.28 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.92 and a beta of 0.80. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $64.71 and a 200-day simple moving average of $64.08. ALLETE has a 52-week low of $55.86 and a 52-week high of $65.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 1.45 and a quick ratio of 0.95.

ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) 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 business had revenue of $407.20 million during the quarter. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.49 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 7.5% on a year-over-year basis.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ALLETE

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ALE. Millennium Management LLC boosted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 812,548 shares during the period. Alpine Associates Management Inc. bought a new position in ALLETE during the second quarter valued at about $21,985,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its holdings in ALLETE by 6,668.6% in the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 239,204 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $14,941,000 after acquiring an additional 235,670 shares in the last quarter. Water Island Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of ALLETE in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $11,583,000. Finally, Gabelli Funds LLC grew its holdings in shares of ALLETE by 59.1% during the 2nd quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 441,564 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $27,532,000 after purchasing an additional 164,064 shares in the last quarter. 76.55% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.