Proficio Capital Partners LLC Makes New Investment in ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE)

Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 22,615 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,465,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its position 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 valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 172 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its position in shares of ALLETE by 32.9% in the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 876 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $57,000 after acquiring an additional 217 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its position in shares of ALLETE by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 11,786 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $764,000 after acquiring an additional 295 shares during the period. D.A. Davidson & CO. boosted its position in shares of ALLETE by 1.9% in the third quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 16,844 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,081,000 after acquiring an additional 315 shares during the period. Finally, Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. boosted its position 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 valued at $100,000 after acquiring an additional 370 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.55% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

ALLETE Price Performance

ALE stock opened at $65.73 on Friday. ALLETE, Inc. has a 12 month low of $56.66 and a 12 month high of $65.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.20 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $65.53 and a 200-day moving average of $64.79.

ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) last announced 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 net margin of 11.72% and a return on equity of 5.97%.

ALLETE Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.44%. ALLETE’s payout ratio is presently 94.19%.

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.