ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) Short Interest Update

ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE - Get Free Report) saw a large decline in short interest in April. As of April 30th, there was short interest totalling 1,110,000 shares, a decline of 9.8% from the April 15th total of 1,230,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 379,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.9 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ALLETE

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of ALE. Principal Securities Inc. bought a new stake in ALLETE during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Allworth Financial LP grew its holdings in ALLETE by 131.2% during the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 467 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 265 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its position in ALLETE by 85.6% during the 3rd 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 period. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of ALLETE by 139.4% in the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 699 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 407 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Spire Wealth Management boosted its stake in shares of ALLETE by 381.3% during the third quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 900 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 713 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.55% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ALE has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Guggenheim raised shares of ALLETE from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $58.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of ALLETE from $57.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and five have given a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $58.60.

ALLETE Price Performance

ALE stock traded up $0.22 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $63.15. 450,800 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 369,398. ALLETE has a 52 week low of $49.29 and a 52 week high of $65.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.13 and a beta of 0.75. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $59.55 and a 200 day simple moving average of $58.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 1.66.

ALLETE (NYSE:ALE - Get Free Report) last announced 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 13.94% and a return on equity of 7.21%. The business had revenue of $402.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $425.21 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.90 EPS. The firm's revenue was down 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that ALLETE will post 3.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ALLETE Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 15th will be paid a $0.705 dividend. This represents a $2.82 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 14th. ALLETE's payout ratio is currently 67.79%.

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.

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