Alliancebernstein L.P. Purchases 105,611 Shares of Allete, Inc. $ALE

Key Points

• Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its holdings in Allete, Inc. by 28.7% in the 1st quarter, owning approximately $31.1 million worth of the company's stock.
• The company reported $0.61 earnings per share for the last quarter, missing analysts' expectations of $0.85 while achieving annual revenue growth of 1.6%.
• Allete announced a quarterly dividend of $0.73 per share, which provides an annual yield of 4.6% and has a payout ratio of 92.11%.

Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its holdings in Allete, Inc. (NYSE:ALE - Free Report) by 28.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 473,726 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 105,611 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. owned about 0.82% of Allete worth $31,124,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. AQR Arbitrage LLC increased its holdings in Allete by 39.7% in the first quarter. AQR Arbitrage LLC now owns 1,183,682 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $77,768,000 after buying an additional 336,210 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Allete by 28.8% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 524,047 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $34,430,000 after buying an additional 117,133 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Allete in the first quarter worth approximately $29,913,000. Alpine Associates Management Inc. increased its holdings in Allete by 8.6% in the first quarter. Alpine Associates Management Inc. now owns 416,847 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $27,387,000 after buying an additional 33,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Neuberger Berman Group LLC increased its holdings in Allete by 0.8% in the first quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 401,940 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $26,409,000 after buying an additional 3,267 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.55% of the company's stock.

Allete Stock Down 0.5%

NYSE:ALE traded down $0.33 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $63.45. The stock had a trading volume of 656,941 shares, compared to its average volume of 439,378. The business's 50 day moving average is $65.12 and its 200 day moving average is $65.10. Allete, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $63.05 and a fifty-two week high of $66.46. The stock has a market cap of $3.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.02 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 0.81.

Allete (NYSE:ALE - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.61 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.85 by ($0.24). Allete had a return on equity of 5.71% and a net margin of 11.98%.The firm had revenue of $360.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $425.30 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.82 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 1.6% on a year-over-year basis.

Allete Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 1st. Investors of record on Friday, August 15th were issued a $0.73 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 15th. This represents a $2.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.6%. Allete's dividend payout ratio is currently 92.11%.

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.