StockNews.com Initiates Coverage on ALLETE (NYSE:ALE)

Analysts at StockNews.com started coverage on shares of ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) in a report issued on Tuesday. The brokerage set a “hold” rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

Separately, Sidoti raised shares of ALLETE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $62.00.

ALLETE Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ALE opened at $64.25 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.71 billion, a PE ratio of 15.44 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $63.87 and its 200-day moving average price is $62.95. ALLETE has a twelve month low of $52.30 and a twelve month high of $65.86.

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ALLETE

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its position in ALLETE by 261.0% during the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,083 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $70,000 after purchasing an additional 783 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted 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 worth $71,000 after buying an additional 1,164 shares during the period. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new position in ALLETE in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $74,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. purchased a new position in ALLETE in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $75,000. Finally, Covestor Ltd raised its holdings in ALLETE by 1,118.1% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 2,156 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $129,000 after acquiring an additional 1,979 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.55% of the company’s stock.

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.