IFM Investors Pty Ltd Purchases Shares of 8,006 ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE)

IFM Investors Pty Ltd acquired a new position in shares of ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 8,006 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $477,000.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Principal Securities Inc. acquired a new position in ALLETE during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Allworth Financial LP boosted its stake 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 buying an additional 265 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its position 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 buying an additional 261 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of ALLETE by 139.4% during the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 699 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 407 shares during the period. Finally, Spire Wealth Management raised its holdings in ALLETE by 381.3% in the third quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 900 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 713 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.55% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ALE has been the subject of several analyst reports. Sidoti downgraded shares of ALLETE from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $64.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on ALLETE from $57.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, Guggenheim upgraded 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 equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and five have given a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, ALLETE has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $58.60.

ALLETE Stock Down 0.9 %

NYSE:ALE traded down $0.55 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $59.02. 159,670 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 239,322. ALLETE, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $49.29 and a fifty-two week high of $63.71. The company has a market capitalization of $3.40 billion, a PE ratio of 13.73 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. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $58.34 and a 200 day simple moving average of $58.06.

ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by ($0.08). The firm had revenue of $402.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $425.21 million. ALLETE had a return on equity of 7.31% and a net margin of 13.15%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.90 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that ALLETE, Inc. will post 3.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ALLETE Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 15th will be issued a $0.705 dividend. This represents a $2.82 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.78%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 14th. ALLETE’s payout ratio is currently 65.58%.

ALLETE 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.