ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) Position Raised by Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS boosted its holdings in ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) by 54.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 169,707 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 59,891 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS owned 0.29% of ALLETE worth $10,997,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Xponance Inc. grew its position in ALLETE by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 8,198 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $531,000 after buying an additional 356 shares during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC grew its position in ALLETE by 198.9% in the fourth quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 29,185 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,891,000 after buying an additional 19,422 shares during the last quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp acquired a new position in ALLETE in the fourth quarter worth approximately $352,000. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ grew its position in ALLETE by 12.0% in the fourth quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ now owns 46,672 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,016,000 after buying an additional 5,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swiss National Bank grew its position in ALLETE by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 113,600 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $7,361,000 after buying an additional 800 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.55% of the company’s stock.

ALLETE Trading Down 0.1 %

NYSE ALE opened at $65.66 on Friday. ALLETE, Inc. has a twelve month low of $56.66 and a twelve month high of $65.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 1.08. The stock has a market cap of $3.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.18 and a beta of 0.74. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $65.54 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $64.81.

ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The utilities provider reported $0.87 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.02 by ($0.15). ALLETE had a return on equity of 5.97% and a net margin of 11.72%.

ALLETE Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were given a dividend of $0.73 per share. This represents a $2.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.45%. This is a boost from ALLETE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. ALLETE’s payout ratio is presently 94.19%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, StockNews.com began coverage on shares of ALLETE in a research report on Friday, January 10th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock.

ALLETE 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.