ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 997,700 shares, a growth of 20.8% from the November 15th total of 825,800 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 257,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.9 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ALLETE

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC bought a new position in shares of ALLETE during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $38,000. UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in shares of ALLETE by 261.0% in the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,083 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $70,000 after purchasing an additional 783 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of ALLETE during the 2nd quarter worth about $74,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of ALLETE during the 2nd quarter worth about $75,000. Finally, Summit Securities Group LLC acquired a new position in ALLETE in the 2nd quarter valued at about $158,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.55% of the company’s stock.

ALLETE Stock Up 0.1 %

NYSE ALE traded up $0.09 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $64.64. 211,466 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 350,202. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.45. The business’s 50-day moving average is $64.53 and its 200-day moving average is $63.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.72 and a beta of 0.81. ALLETE has a twelve month low of $55.86 and a twelve month high of $65.86.

ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.99 by ($0.21). The firm had revenue of $407.20 million during the quarter. ALLETE had a net margin of 11.49% and a return on equity of 5.99%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.49 earnings per share.

ALLETE Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, December 1st. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th were issued a dividend of $0.705 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 15th. This represents a $2.82 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.36%. This is a boost from ALLETE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. ALLETE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 90.38%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of ALLETE in a research note on Monday, December 9th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Sidoti raised ALLETE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $62.00.

ALLETE Company 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.