New York State Common Retirement Fund Increases Holdings in ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE)

New York State Common Retirement Fund boosted its stake in ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) by 1.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 23,604 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 295 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in ALLETE were worth $1,444,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Allworth Financial LP grew its stake in shares of ALLETE by 131.2% in the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 467 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 265 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its stake in shares of ALLETE by 85.6% during the third quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 566 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 261 shares during the period. Spire Wealth Management raised its stake in shares of 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 period. Huntington National Bank lifted its position in shares of ALLETE by 18.8% during the third quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 2,096 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $111,000 after purchasing an additional 332 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC boosted its stake in shares of ALLETE by 217.3% in the fourth quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,773 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $170,000 after purchasing an additional 1,899 shares during the period. 76.55% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on ALE. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of ALLETE from $57.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. 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 research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and five have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, ALLETE has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $58.60.

ALLETE Stock Performance

ALE stock opened at $62.85 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $59.19 and its 200 day simple moving average is $58.50. ALLETE, Inc. has a 12-month low of $49.29 and a 12-month high of $65.86. The firm 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 issued its 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 business had revenue of $402.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $425.21 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.90 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that ALLETE, Inc. will post 3.75 EPS for the current year.

ALLETE Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.705 per share. This represents a $2.82 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.49%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 14th. ALLETE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 65.58%.

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.