Stifel Financial Corp Has $880,000 Holdings in ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE)

Stifel Financial Corp lowered its stake in ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) by 34.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 13,717 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 7,108 shares during the quarter. Stifel Financial Corp’s holdings in ALLETE were worth $880,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. D.A. Davidson & CO. increased its position in shares of ALLETE by 1.9% in the third quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 16,844 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,081,000 after acquiring an additional 315 shares during the last quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of ALLETE by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 18,928 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,215,000 after acquiring an additional 327 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System increased its stake in shares of ALLETE by 2.2% during the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 16,143 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,007,000 after purchasing an additional 347 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of ALLETE by 31.0% in the 3rd quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. now owns 1,563 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $100,000 after purchasing an additional 370 shares during the period. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of ALLETE by 14.8% in the 3rd quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,135 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $201,000 after purchasing an additional 405 shares during the period. 76.55% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on ALE. StockNews.com started coverage on ALLETE in a research note on Wednesday. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Sidoti raised shares of ALLETE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, ALLETE has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $62.00.

ALLETE Stock Down 0.4 %

ALLETE stock opened at $64.37 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $64.57 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $63.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.45. ALLETE, Inc. has a 52-week low of $55.86 and a 52-week high of $65.86. The firm has a market cap of $3.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.63 and a beta of 0.81.

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

ALLETE Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th were issued a dividend of $0.705 per share. This is a boost from ALLETE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. This represents a $2.82 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.38%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 15th. ALLETE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 90.38%.

ALLETE Company 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.