HighTower Advisors LLC Acquires 855 Shares of ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE)

HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) by 15.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,311 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 855 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in ALLETE were worth $409,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp lifted its stake in ALLETE by 0.5% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,459,692 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $157,888,000 after acquiring an additional 13,335 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of ALLETE by 1.6% in 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 purchasing an additional 21,850 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of ALLETE by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 786,588 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $50,971,000 after purchasing an additional 20,245 shares in the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers lifted its stake in shares of ALLETE by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 209,532 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $13,578,000 after acquiring an additional 7,153 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in ALLETE by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 184,915 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $11,982,000 after buying an additional 4,576 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.55% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

ALLETE Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:ALE opened at $65.68 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $3.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.19 and a beta of 0.74. The business’s 50 day moving average is $65.55 and its 200 day moving average is $64.91. ALLETE, Inc. has a 12-month low of $56.66 and a 12-month high of $65.99. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50.

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 firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a dividend of $0.73 per share. This is a boost from ALLETE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $2.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.45%. 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.