ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) Shares Sold by Truist Financial Corp

Truist Financial Corp lowered its stake in ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) by 91.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 30,539 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 344,007 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp’s holdings in ALLETE were worth $1,868,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Allworth Financial LP lifted its position in shares of ALLETE by 131.2% in the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 467 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 265 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its holdings in shares of ALLETE by 85.6% during the third quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 566 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 261 shares in the last quarter. Spire Wealth Management boosted its position in ALLETE by 381.3% during the third quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 900 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 713 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC purchased a new position in ALLETE in the fourth quarter valued at about $77,000. Finally, Huntington National Bank increased its position in ALLETE by 18.8% in the 3rd quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 2,096 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $111,000 after purchasing an additional 332 shares during the last quarter. 76.55% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

ALLETE Price Performance

Shares of ALE opened at $62.85 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $59.19 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $58.50. ALLETE, Inc. has a 1 year low of $49.29 and a 1 year high of $65.86. The stock has a market cap of $3.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.62 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

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

ALLETE Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 15th will be given a dividend of $0.705 per share. This represents a $2.82 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 14th. ALLETE’s dividend payout ratio is currently 65.58%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of ALLETE from $57.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Guggenheim upgraded shares of ALLETE from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $58.00 price objective on the stock in a report 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus 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.