Arizona State Retirement System Sells 273 Shares of ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE)

Arizona State Retirement System lowered its stake in shares of ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) by 1.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,046 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 273 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in ALLETE were worth $981,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Belpointe Asset Management LLC raised its stake in ALLETE by 105.4% in the 1st quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 460 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 236 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its holdings in ALLETE by 85.6% in the 3rd quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 566 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 261 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP acquired a new position in ALLETE in the 2nd quarter valued at $34,000. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in ALLETE by 131.3% in the 3rd quarter. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC now owns 710 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 403 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its holdings in ALLETE by 921.4% in the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 715 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 645 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.55% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently issued reports on ALE shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on ALLETE from $57.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Guggenheim raised ALLETE from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $58.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, Sidoti lowered ALLETE from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $64.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and five have issued a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $58.60.

ALLETE Stock Performance

NYSE:ALE opened at $57.46 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $58.16 and its 200 day simple moving average is $57.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.31 billion, a PE ratio of 13.36 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. ALLETE, Inc. has a twelve month low of $49.29 and a twelve month high of $65.10.

ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.97 by ($0.08). The business had revenue of $402.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $425.21 million. ALLETE had a net margin of 13.15% and a return on equity of 7.31%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.90 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that ALLETE, Inc. will post 3.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ALLETE Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, February 15th were paid a $0.705 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 14th. This is a positive change from ALLETE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. This represents a $2.82 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.91%. ALLETE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 65.58%.

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.