Water Island Capital LLC Has $1.83 Million Stock Holdings in ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE)

Water Island Capital LLC grew its stake in ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE - Free Report) by 36.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 28,162 shares of the utilities provider's stock after acquiring an additional 7,493 shares during the quarter. Water Island Capital LLC's holdings in ALLETE were worth $1,825,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of ALE. Covestor Ltd lifted its position in ALLETE by 38.0% in the 4th quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 2,410 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $156,000 after buying an additional 663 shares in the last quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of ALLETE by 8.3% in the fourth quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 398,673 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $25,825,000 after buying an additional 30,479 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in ALLETE during the fourth quarter worth about $3,522,000. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of ALLETE by 14.2% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 331,472 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $21,479,000 after acquiring an additional 41,315 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can grew its holdings in shares of ALLETE by 13.0% during the 4th quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 11,173 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $724,000 after purchasing an additional 1,289 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.55% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, StockNews.com began coverage on shares of ALLETE in a research note on Friday, January 10th. They set a "hold" rating on the stock.

ALLETE Price Performance

ALE stock traded up $0.12 during trading on Thursday, hitting $64.95. The company had a trading volume of 123,074 shares, compared to its average volume of 373,763. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $65.36 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $64.98. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. ALLETE, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $57.31 and a fifty-two week high of $65.99. The company has a market cap of $3.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.96 and a beta of 0.69.

ALLETE (NYSE:ALE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The utilities provider reported $0.87 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.02 by ($0.15). ALLETE had a return on equity of 5.97% and a net margin of 11.72%.

ALLETE Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a dividend of $0.73 per share. This is a boost from ALLETE's previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. This represents a $2.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. ALLETE's payout ratio is currently 94.19%.

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.