ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) Sees Large Volume Increase

ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) shares saw unusually-high trading volume on Monday . Approximately 614,899 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 109% from the previous session’s volume of 293,597 shares.The stock last traded at $63.53 and had previously closed at $64.27.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of ALLETE from $57.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Sidoti cut shares of ALLETE from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $64.00 target price for the company. in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. Finally, Guggenheim raised ALLETE from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $58.00 price target on the stock in a report on Monday, January 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and five have given a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $58.60.

ALLETE Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $3.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.95 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $58.67 and a 200-day simple moving average of $58.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 1.24.

ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.97 by ($0.08). The business had revenue of $402.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $425.21 million. ALLETE had a return on equity of 7.31% and a net margin of 13.15%. The company’s revenue was down 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.90 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that ALLETE, Inc. will post 3.75 earnings per share for the current year.

ALLETE Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.705 per share. This represents a $2.82 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.48%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 14th. ALLETE’s dividend payout ratio is currently 65.58%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of ALLETE by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,579,504 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $402,402,000 after buying an additional 176,709 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of ALLETE by 0.5% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,254,365 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $66,230,000 after purchasing an additional 6,421 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of ALLETE by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 888,731 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $54,355,000 after purchasing an additional 24,690 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of ALLETE by 13.9% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 829,564 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $43,801,000 after purchasing an additional 101,229 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in ALLETE by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 716,941 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $43,848,000 after buying an additional 22,139 shares in the last quarter. 76.55% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.