Gilliland Jeter Wealth Management LLC Purchases New Position in ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE)

Gilliland Jeter Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 13,096 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $801,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Arizona State Retirement System raised its stake in shares of ALLETE by 1.4% in the third quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 16,319 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $862,000 after acquiring an additional 221 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its stake in shares of ALLETE by 85.6% in the third quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 566 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 261 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP raised its stake in shares of ALLETE by 131.2% in the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 467 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 265 shares during the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund raised its stake in shares of ALLETE by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 23,604 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,444,000 after acquiring an additional 295 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Huntington National Bank raised its stake in shares of ALLETE by 18.8% in the third quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 2,096 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $111,000 after acquiring an additional 332 shares during the last quarter. 76.55% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on ALE shares. Sidoti downgraded shares of ALLETE from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $64.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Guggenheim raised shares of ALLETE from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $58.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of ALLETE from $57.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and five have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, ALLETE currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $58.60.

ALLETE Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of ALE traded down $0.55 on Friday, reaching $59.02. 159,670 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 239,322. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $3.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.73 and a beta of 0.75. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $58.34 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $58.03. ALLETE, Inc. has a 12 month low of $49.29 and a 12 month high of $63.71.

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

ALLETE Announces Dividend

The company 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 4.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 14th. ALLETE’s dividend payout ratio is currently 65.58%.

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.