ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) Receives $58.60 Average PT from Analysts

ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) has earned an average recommendation of “Reduce” from the five analysts that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation and four have issued a hold recommendation on the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $58.60.

A number of research firms have weighed in on ALE. Sidoti lowered ALLETE from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $64.00 target price for the company. in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. Guggenheim upgraded ALLETE from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $58.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on ALLETE from $57.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st.

ALLETE Stock Performance

Shares of ALLETE stock opened at $57.78 on Thursday. ALLETE has a 12 month low of $49.29 and a 12 month high of $65.10. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $58.17 and its 200-day moving average price is $57.64. The firm has a market cap of $3.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.44 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) last posted 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 business had revenue of $402.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $425.21 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.90 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that ALLETE will post 3.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ALLETE Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, February 15th were paid a dividend of $0.705 per share. This represents a $2.82 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.88%. This is an increase from ALLETE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 14th. ALLETE’s payout ratio is 65.58%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ALLETE

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of ALLETE by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 17,411 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,166,000 after purchasing an additional 228 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. purchased a new position in shares of ALLETE in the first quarter worth $204,000. HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of ALLETE by 10.9% during the first quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 4,374 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $293,000 after buying an additional 431 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund purchased a new stake in shares of ALLETE during the first quarter valued at $1,252,000. Finally, Great West Life Assurance Co. Can increased its position in shares of ALLETE by 11.7% in the 1st quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can now owns 30,291 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,085,000 after acquiring an additional 3,163 shares during the period. 76.55% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.