Quest Partners LLC Raises Stock Holdings in ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE)

Quest Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) by 249.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 34,367 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 24,523 shares during the quarter. Quest Partners LLC’s holdings in ALLETE were worth $2,206,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Millennium Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of ALLETE by 955.1% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 897,622 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $55,967,000 after purchasing an additional 812,548 shares during the period. Alpine Associates Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of ALLETE in the 2nd quarter worth $21,985,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its position in shares of ALLETE by 6,668.6% during the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 239,204 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $14,941,000 after buying an additional 235,670 shares in the last quarter. Water Island Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of ALLETE during the second quarter valued at $11,583,000. Finally, Gabelli Funds LLC increased its stake in shares of ALLETE by 59.1% during the second quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 441,564 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $27,532,000 after buying an additional 164,064 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.55% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of ALLETE in a report on Friday. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Sidoti upgraded shares of ALLETE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $62.00.

ALLETE Stock Performance

Shares of ALLETE stock opened at $64.46 on Tuesday. ALLETE, Inc. has a one year low of $54.71 and a one year high of $65.86. The company has a market capitalization of $3.73 billion, a PE ratio of 20.66 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.45. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $64.25 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $63.64.

ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.99 by ($0.21). The firm had revenue of $407.20 million for the quarter. ALLETE had a return on equity of 5.99% and a net margin of 11.49%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.49 EPS.

ALLETE Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be given a $0.705 dividend. This is a boost from ALLETE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $2.82 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.37%. ALLETE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 90.38%.

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.