Allete (NYSE:ALE) Sees Unusually-High Trading Volume – What’s Next?

Shares of Allete, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) saw unusually-high trading volume on Friday . Approximately 1,123,537 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 142% from the previous session’s volume of 464,915 shares.The stock last traded at $67.20 and had previously closed at $66.72.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Allete in a research note on Saturday, September 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Allete has a consensus rating of “Hold”.

Allete Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $3.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.20 and a beta of 0.83. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $64.84 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $65.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 0.81.

Allete (NYSE:ALE) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.85 by ($0.24). The firm had revenue of $360.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $425.30 million. Allete had a net margin of 11.98% and a return on equity of 5.71%. The business’s revenue was up 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.82 EPS.

Allete Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th were paid a $0.73 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 15th. This represents a $2.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.3%. Allete’s payout ratio is currently 92.11%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ALE. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Allete by 24.6% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,154 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $276,000 after buying an additional 821 shares in the last quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. raised its stake in shares of Allete by 19.5% in the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 24,115 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,545,000 after acquiring an additional 3,938 shares during the last quarter. Caxton Associates LLP acquired a new position in shares of Allete during the second quarter worth approximately $43,127,000. FORA Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Allete during the second quarter valued at approximately $333,000. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC increased its holdings in shares of Allete by 10,173.1% in the second quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 5,342 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $342,000 after purchasing an additional 5,290 shares in the last quarter. 76.55% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.