ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) Coverage Initiated at StockNews.com

Stock analysts at StockNews.com started coverage on shares of ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) in a report issued on Friday. The firm set a “hold” rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

Separately, Sidoti upgraded ALLETE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $62.00.

ALLETE Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE ALE opened at $64.36 on Friday. ALLETE has a fifty-two week low of $54.71 and a fifty-two week high of $65.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.63 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 1.45 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $64.24 and its 200 day simple moving average is $63.59.

ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.99 by ($0.21). ALLETE had a return on equity of 5.99% and a net margin of 11.49%. The business had revenue of $407.20 million for the quarter. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.49 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.5% on a year-over-year basis.

Institutional Trading of ALLETE

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ALE. D.A. Davidson & CO. lifted its holdings in ALLETE by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 16,844 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,081,000 after purchasing an additional 315 shares in the last quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of ALLETE by 1.8% during the third quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 18,928 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,215,000 after acquiring an additional 327 shares in the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System lifted its position in ALLETE by 2.2% in the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 16,143 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,007,000 after purchasing an additional 347 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. raised its holdings in ALLETE by 31.0% during the 3rd quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. now owns 1,563 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $100,000 after buying an additional 370 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in ALLETE by 14.8% during the 3rd quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,135 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $201,000 after buying an additional 405 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.55% of the company’s stock.

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.