Summit Global Investments Buys 2,479 Shares of ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE)

Summit Global Investments raised its position in shares of ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) by 13.9% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 20,326 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,479 shares during the quarter. Summit Global Investments’ holdings in ALLETE were worth $1,243,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in ALE. Gilliland Jeter Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in ALLETE in the fourth quarter worth about $801,000. Alps Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in ALLETE by 41.4% during the 3rd quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 8,976 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $474,000 after acquiring an additional 2,626 shares during the period. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. grew its position in ALLETE by 214.3% in the 3rd quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 339,627 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $17,932,000 after acquiring an additional 231,582 shares during the last quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC increased its stake in ALLETE by 102.9% in the third quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 42,446 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,241,000 after purchasing an additional 21,528 shares during the period. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd lifted its position in shares of ALLETE by 13.9% during the third quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 77,881 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,112,000 after purchasing an additional 9,478 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.55% of the company’s stock.

ALLETE Stock Up 5.6 %

Shares of ALE traded up $3.43 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $64.27. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,472,384 shares, compared to its average volume of 236,566. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.95 and a beta of 0.75. The company’s 50-day moving average is $58.67 and its 200-day moving average is $58.24. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. ALLETE, Inc. has a 52-week low of $49.29 and a 52-week high of $65.86.

ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) last posted its 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). ALLETE had a return on equity of 7.31% and a net margin of 13.15%. The company had revenue of $402.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $425.21 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.90 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that ALLETE, Inc. will post 3.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ALLETE Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 15th will be issued a $0.705 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 14th. This represents a $2.82 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.39%. ALLETE’s dividend payout ratio is presently 65.58%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on ALE. Sidoti cut 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. Wells Fargo & Company upped 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. Finally, Guggenheim raised shares of ALLETE from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $58.00 price target for the company in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and five have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, ALLETE presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $58.60.

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.