ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) Sets New 12-Month High at $65.86

ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) hit a new 52-week high on Friday . The company traded as high as $65.86 and last traded at $63.51, with a volume of 468932 shares. The stock had previously closed at $60.84.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on ALE shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on ALLETE from $57.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Guggenheim raised ALLETE from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $58.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, Sidoti downgraded ALLETE from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $64.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and five have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $58.60.

ALLETE Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 1.24. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $58.67 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $58.27. The company has a market cap of $3.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.95 and a beta of 0.75.

ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.97 by ($0.08). ALLETE had a net margin of 13.15% and a return on equity of 7.31%. The company had revenue of $402.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $425.21 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.90 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that ALLETE, Inc. will post 3.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ALLETE Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 15th will be given a dividend of $0.705 per share. This represents a $2.82 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.39%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 14th. ALLETE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 65.58%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ALE. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in ALLETE by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,579,504 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $402,402,000 after purchasing an additional 176,709 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of ALLETE by 0.5% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,254,365 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $66,230,000 after buying an additional 6,421 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of ALLETE by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 888,731 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $54,355,000 after acquiring an additional 24,690 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of ALLETE by 13.9% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 829,564 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $43,801,000 after acquiring an additional 101,229 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of ALLETE by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 716,941 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $43,848,000 after acquiring an additional 22,139 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.55% of the company’s stock.

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.