Cozad Asset Management Inc. Sells 777 Shares of ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE)

Cozad Asset Management Inc. lowered its stake in shares of ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) by 3.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 23,780 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 777 shares during the quarter. Cozad Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in ALLETE were worth $1,454,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

ALLETE Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE ALE opened at $59.23 on Wednesday. ALLETE, Inc. has a one year low of $49.29 and a one year high of $63.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 0.78. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $58.36 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $58.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.77 and a beta of 0.75.

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

ALLETE Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 15th will be issued a $0.705 dividend. This represents a $2.82 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.76%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 14th. ALLETE’s dividend payout ratio is 65.58%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Sidoti downgraded shares of ALLETE from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $64.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. Guggenheim raised shares of ALLETE from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $58.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of ALLETE from $57.00 to $59.00 and gave the company 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 assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average 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.