ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) Given Average Rating of “Reduce” by Brokerages

Shares of ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) have received an average recommendation of “Reduce” from the five ratings firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have assigned a hold rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $58.60.

ALE has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Guggenheim upgraded shares of ALLETE from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $58.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of ALLETE from $57.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, Sidoti cut shares of ALLETE from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $64.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th.

Institutional Trading of ALLETE

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Principal Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in ALLETE during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Belpointe Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of ALLETE by 105.4% in the 1st quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 460 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 236 shares during the period. Allworth Financial LP grew its holdings in shares of ALLETE by 131.2% in the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 467 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 265 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its holdings in shares of ALLETE by 85.6% in the 3rd quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 566 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 261 shares during the period. Finally, Quarry LP acquired a new position in shares of ALLETE in the 2nd quarter valued at $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.55% of the company’s stock.

ALLETE Stock Performance

NYSE:ALE opened at $57.85 on Thursday. ALLETE has a 1 year low of $49.29 and a 1 year high of $65.10. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $58.15 and a 200-day moving average of $57.67. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.45 and a beta of 0.75.

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

ALLETE Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 15th were issued a dividend of $0.705 per share. This represents a $2.82 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 14th. This is a positive change from ALLETE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. ALLETE’s payout ratio is currently 65.58%.

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.