Allete, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) Shares Sold by Cetera Investment Advisers

Cetera Investment Advisers reduced its stake in shares of Allete, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) by 8.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 16,749 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,614 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers’ holdings in Allete were worth $1,100,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. LPL Financial LLC lifted its position in Allete by 40.3% during the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 22,159 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,436,000 after purchasing an additional 6,367 shares during the period. Trexquant Investment LP acquired a new position in Allete during the fourth quarter valued at $327,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Allete by 7.0% during the fourth quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 28,917 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,874,000 after purchasing an additional 1,902 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its position in Allete by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 27,786 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,800,000 after purchasing an additional 706 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can lifted its position in Allete by 13.0% during the fourth quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 11,173 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $724,000 after purchasing an additional 1,289 shares during the period. 76.55% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Allete Trading Up 0.3%

NYSE ALE opened at $65.79 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.82 billion, a PE ratio of 20.75 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a fifty day moving average of $65.19 and a 200 day moving average of $65.28. Allete, Inc. has a 1 year low of $63.00 and a 1 year high of $66.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 0.81.

Allete (NYSE:ALE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.61 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.85 by ($0.24). The firm had revenue of $360.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $425.30 million. Allete had a return on equity of 5.71% and a net margin of 11.98%. The company’s revenue was up 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.82 EPS.

Allete Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.73 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 15th. This represents a $2.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.4%. Allete’s payout ratio is currently 92.11%.

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.