Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC Acquires 731 Shares of ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE)

Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) by 11.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,070 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 731 shares during the quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in ALLETE were worth $454,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. UMB Bank n.a. raised its position in shares of ALLETE by 261.0% in the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,083 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $70,000 after buying an additional 783 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in ALLETE by 4,157.1% in the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 1,192 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $71,000 after acquiring an additional 1,164 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of ALLETE during the 2nd quarter valued at $74,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of ALLETE during the 2nd quarter worth $75,000. Finally, Covestor Ltd grew its holdings in shares of ALLETE by 1,118.1% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 2,156 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $129,000 after purchasing an additional 1,979 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.55% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on ALE. Sidoti raised ALLETE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of ALLETE in a research report on Thursday. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, ALLETE currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $62.00.

ALLETE Price Performance

ALLETE stock opened at $65.18 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.45. ALLETE, Inc. has a 52 week low of $53.14 and a 52 week high of $65.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.89 and a beta of 0.80. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $64.11 and a 200-day moving average of $63.38.

ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by ($0.21). The business had revenue of $407.20 million during the quarter. ALLETE had a net margin of 11.49% and a return on equity of 5.99%. The firm’s revenue was up 7.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.49 EPS.

ALLETE Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th will be paid a $0.705 dividend. This is an increase from ALLETE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $2.82 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.33%. ALLETE’s dividend payout ratio is presently 90.38%.

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.