ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) Shares Sold by Swiss National Bank

Swiss National Bank decreased its holdings in shares of ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 112,800 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 600 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in ALLETE were worth $7,241,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in ALE. UMB Bank n.a. boosted 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 worth $70,000 after buying an additional 783 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of ALLETE by 4,157.1% during the first 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. acquired a new stake in shares of ALLETE during the second quarter worth about $74,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of ALLETE during the second quarter worth about $75,000. Finally, Summit Securities Group LLC acquired a new stake in ALLETE in the second quarter valued at about $158,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.55% of the company’s stock.

ALLETE Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of ALLETE stock opened at $65.00 on Tuesday. ALLETE, Inc. has a 12-month low of $54.71 and a 12-month high of $65.86. 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 stock has a market cap of $3.76 billion, a PE ratio of 20.83 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a 50-day moving average of $64.33 and a two-hundred day moving average of $63.69.

ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) last issued 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). ALLETE had a net margin of 11.49% and a return on equity of 5.99%. The company had revenue of $407.20 million during the quarter. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.49 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year.

ALLETE Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be issued a $0.705 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. This is a boost from ALLETE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. This represents a $2.82 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.34%. ALLETE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 90.38%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of ALLETE in a research report on Saturday. 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 investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, ALLETE has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $62.00.

ALLETE 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.