Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Increases Holdings in ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE)

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC grew its holdings in shares of ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) by 12.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 19,317 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,175 shares during the period. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC’s holdings in ALLETE were worth $1,181,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of ALE. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in ALLETE by 263.7% during the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 395,962 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $20,907,000 after buying an additional 287,088 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in ALLETE by 112.0% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 504,362 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $30,847,000 after buying an additional 266,505 shares during the last quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in ALLETE by 214.3% during the 3rd quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 339,627 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $17,932,000 after buying an additional 231,582 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in ALLETE by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,402,795 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $338,068,000 after buying an additional 130,113 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in ALLETE by 29.7% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 564,120 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $29,786,000 after buying an additional 129,104 shares during the last quarter. 76.55% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

ALLETE Stock Performance

Shares of ALE stock opened at $59.57 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.43 billion, a PE ratio of 13.85 and a beta of 0.75. ALLETE, Inc. has a 52-week low of $49.29 and a 52-week high of $63.71. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $58.31 and its 200 day moving average price is $57.95. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) last released its earnings results 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). ALLETE had a return on equity of 7.31% and a net margin of 13.15%. The business had revenue of $402.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $425.21 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.90 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that ALLETE, Inc. will post 3.75 EPS for the current year.

ALLETE Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 15th will be paid a $0.705 dividend. This represents a $2.82 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 14th. ALLETE’s payout ratio is currently 65.58%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on ALE. Guggenheim raised ALLETE from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $58.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted 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, Sidoti downgraded 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and five have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $58.60.

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.