Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. Grows Stock Position in ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE)

Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) by 31.0% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,563 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 370 shares during the period. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd.’s holdings in ALLETE were worth $100,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC acquired a new position in shares of ALLETE during the third quarter worth about $38,000. UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in shares of ALLETE by 261.0% in the 3rd 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. Hantz Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of ALLETE in the 2nd quarter valued at $75,000. Summit Securities Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of ALLETE during the 2nd quarter worth $158,000. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of ALLETE during the second quarter worth $170,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.55% of the company’s stock.

ALLETE Stock Performance

Shares of ALE stock opened at $64.76 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $64.46 and its two-hundred day moving average is $63.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.45. ALLETE, Inc. has a 1 year low of $55.86 and a 1 year high of $65.86. The firm has a market cap of $3.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.75 and a beta of 0.81.

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

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 paid a dividend of $0.705 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. This represents a $2.82 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.35%. This is a boost from ALLETE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. ALLETE’s dividend payout ratio is currently 90.38%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on ALE shares. Sidoti upgraded ALLETE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on ALLETE in a research report on Sunday, December 1st. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $62.00.

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.