ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) Shares Purchased by State Street Corp

State Street Corp increased its position in shares of ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 2,459,692 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 13,335 shares during the period. State Street Corp’s holdings in ALLETE were worth $157,888,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. raised its holdings in ALLETE by 100.0% during the third quarter. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. now owns 80,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,135,000 after purchasing an additional 40,000 shares during the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC raised its holdings in ALLETE by 11.7% during the third quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 46,480 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,984,000 after purchasing an additional 4,850 shares during the last quarter. Holocene Advisors LP acquired a new position in ALLETE during the third quarter worth $1,800,000. Paloma Partners Management Co acquired a new position in ALLETE during the third quarter worth $266,000. Finally, Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of ALLETE by 31.0% in the third quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. now owns 1,563 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $100,000 after acquiring an additional 370 shares during the last quarter. 76.55% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

ALLETE Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ALE opened at $64.64 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $3.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.72 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. ALLETE, Inc. has a 52 week low of $55.86 and a 52 week high of $65.86. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $64.53 and a 200-day simple moving average of $63.84.

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

ALLETE Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th were given a $0.705 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. This represents a $2.82 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.36%. This is an increase from ALLETE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. ALLETE’s payout ratio is currently 90.38%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ALE has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. StockNews.com initiated coverage on ALLETE in a report on Monday, December 9th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Sidoti raised ALLETE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, ALLETE presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $62.00.

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.