Russell Investments Group Ltd. Trims Stock Holdings in ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE)

Russell Investments Group Ltd. reduced its holdings in shares of ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) by 9.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 238,741 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 24,725 shares during the quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd.’s holdings in ALLETE were worth $14,601,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of ALE. Gilliland Jeter Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of ALLETE during the fourth quarter worth $801,000. Alps Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in ALLETE by 41.4% during the 3rd quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 8,976 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $474,000 after buying an additional 2,626 shares in the last quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. boosted its position in ALLETE by 214.3% in the 3rd quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 339,627 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $17,932,000 after buying an additional 231,582 shares during the period. Gotham Asset Management LLC grew its stake in ALLETE by 102.9% in the 3rd quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 42,446 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,241,000 after acquiring an additional 21,528 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd increased its position in shares of ALLETE by 13.9% during the third quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 77,881 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,112,000 after acquiring an additional 9,478 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.55% of the company’s stock.

ALLETE Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ALE opened at $64.28 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $58.53 and a 200 day moving average of $58.17. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The company has a market capitalization of $3.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.95 and a beta of 0.75. ALLETE, Inc. has a 52 week low of $49.29 and a 52 week high of $65.86.

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

ALLETE Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 15th will be given a dividend of $0.705 per share. This represents a $2.82 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 14th. ALLETE’s payout ratio is 65.58%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ALE has been the subject of a number of research reports. Sidoti lowered ALLETE from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $64.00 price target for the company. in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. Wells Fargo & Company upped 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. Finally, Guggenheim upgraded ALLETE from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $58.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and five have given a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, ALLETE currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $58.60.

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.