ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) Shares Sold by Cetera Investment Advisers

Cetera Investment Advisers cut its holdings in ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) by 13.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 18,507 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 2,890 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers’ holdings in ALLETE were worth $1,154,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in ALLETE during the 1st quarter worth $854,000. Boston Partners raised its stake in ALLETE by 59.2% during the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 30,441 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,816,000 after acquiring an additional 11,321 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its stake in ALLETE by 167.1% during the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 34,723 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,071,000 after acquiring an additional 21,725 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. raised its stake in ALLETE by 2.7% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 308,300 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $18,387,000 after acquiring an additional 7,981 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in ALLETE by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,615,496 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $394,548,000 after purchasing an additional 35,992 shares during the last quarter. 76.55% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

ALLETE Stock Up 0.1 %

ALLETE stock opened at $64.40 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.48 and a beta of 0.80. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $63.86 and its 200-day simple moving average is $62.79. The company has a current ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. ALLETE, Inc. has a 1-year low of $52.14 and a 1-year high of $65.86.

ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87 by ($0.30). The firm had revenue of $354.50 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $547.24 million. ALLETE had a net margin of 14.36% and a return on equity of 7.07%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 33.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.90 earnings per share.

ALLETE Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 15th were given a dividend of $0.7005 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.35%. ALLETE’s payout ratio is 67.79%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on ALE shares. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of ALLETE in a report on Monday. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Sidoti upgraded shares of ALLETE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $62.00.

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.