Yousif Capital Management LLC Reduces Holdings in ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE)

Yousif Capital Management LLC lowered its position in ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) by 4.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 19,653 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 982 shares during the quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC’s holdings in ALLETE were worth $1,274,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ALE. State Street Corp boosted its position in ALLETE by 0.5% during the third 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 during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of ALLETE by 1.6% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in ALLETE by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 766,343 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $49,192,000 after buying an additional 7,739 shares during the period. Alpine Associates Management Inc. grew its stake in ALLETE by 12.9% in the 3rd quarter. Alpine Associates Management Inc. now owns 398,047 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $25,551,000 after buying an additional 45,447 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Citigroup Inc. raised its holdings in ALLETE by 28.3% during the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 129,635 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $8,321,000 after acquiring an additional 28,612 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.55% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com began coverage on ALLETE in a report on Friday, January 10th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company.

ALLETE Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of ALLETE stock opened at $65.85 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $65.16 and its 200-day moving average price is $64.51. 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, Inc. has a 12-month low of $55.86 and a 12-month high of $65.99. The company has a market cap of $3.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.10 and a beta of 0.80.

ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The utilities provider reported $0.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.02 by ($0.15). ALLETE had a return on equity of 5.99% and a net margin of 11.49%.

ALLETE Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.73 per share. This is a positive change from ALLETE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $2.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.43%. ALLETE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 93.59%.

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.