Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Purchases 20,245 Shares of ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) by 2.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 786,588 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 20,245 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned about 1.36% of ALLETE worth $50,971,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC bought a new position in shares of ALLETE in the third quarter worth about $38,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its holdings in shares of ALLETE by 30.9% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 729 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 172 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its holdings in shares of ALLETE by 32.9% in the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 876 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $57,000 after purchasing an additional 217 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of ALLETE by 31.0% in the third quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. now owns 1,563 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $100,000 after purchasing an additional 370 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV grew its holdings in shares of ALLETE by 61.7% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,431 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $158,000 after purchasing an additional 928 shares during the last quarter. 76.55% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

ALLETE Stock Up 0.0 %

Shares of ALLETE stock opened at $65.33 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 0.69. ALLETE, Inc. has a 1 year low of $56.66 and a 1 year high of $65.99. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $65.47 and its two-hundred day moving average is $64.71. The stock has a market cap of $3.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.07 and a beta of 0.74.

ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The utilities provider reported $0.87 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.02 by ($0.15). ALLETE had a net margin of 11.72% and a return on equity of 5.97%.

ALLETE Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were given a dividend of $0.73 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This is a positive change from ALLETE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. This represents a $2.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.47%. ALLETE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 94.19%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

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.