Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. Takes $205,000 Position in ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE)

Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. acquired a new position in ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 3,192 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $205,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of ALE. UMB Bank n.a. increased its stake in shares of ALLETE by 261.0% during 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 during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its position in ALLETE by 4,157.1% during the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 1,192 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $71,000 after purchasing an additional 1,164 shares during the period. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of ALLETE in the 2nd quarter valued at about $74,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of ALLETE in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $75,000. Finally, Covestor Ltd boosted its stake in shares of ALLETE by 1,118.1% during the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 2,156 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $129,000 after purchasing an additional 1,979 shares in the last quarter. 76.55% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on ALE. StockNews.com assumed coverage on ALLETE in a report on Friday. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Sidoti upgraded ALLETE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, ALLETE presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $62.00.

ALLETE Price Performance

NYSE ALE opened at $64.46 on Tuesday. ALLETE, Inc. has a 12-month low of $54.71 and a 12-month high of $65.86. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $64.25 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $63.64. The company has a current ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.66 and a beta of 0.80.

ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.99 by ($0.21). ALLETE had a return on equity of 5.99% and a net margin of 11.49%. The business had revenue of $407.20 million for the quarter. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.49 EPS. ALLETE’s revenue was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year.

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 given a $0.705 dividend. This is a positive change from ALLETE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. This represents a $2.82 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. ALLETE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 90.38%.

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.