ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE – Get Free Report) was the target of a significant decline in short interest in the month of July. As of July 15th, there was short interest totalling 676,500 shares, a decline of 8.8% from the June 30th total of 741,700 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 267,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.5 days.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on ALE. Sidoti raised shares of ALLETE from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $74.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 6th. Mizuho reduced their target price on shares of ALLETE from $64.00 to $58.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 21st. Bank of America downgraded shares of ALLETE from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and cut their target price for the company from $63.00 to $54.00 in a research report on Tuesday, June 27th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of ALLETE in a research report on Thursday, May 18th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, Guggenheim decreased their price objective on shares of ALLETE from $54.00 to $49.00 in a research note on Friday, July 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $60.83.
Hedge Funds Weigh In On ALLETE
Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc. raised its position in shares of ALLETE by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 331,204 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $19,200,000 after purchasing an additional 1,558 shares during the period. TIAA FSB lifted its stake in shares of ALLETE by 6.1% in the second quarter. TIAA FSB now owns 4,046 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $235,000 after buying an additional 232 shares in the last quarter. Strs Ohio purchased a new stake in shares of ALLETE in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $220,000. Inspire Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of ALLETE by 27.7% in the second quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 5,424 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $314,000 after purchasing an additional 1,178 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Asset Management One Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in ALLETE by 24.5% during the 2nd quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 11,397 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $661,000 after acquiring an additional 2,241 shares in the last quarter. 76.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.
ALLETE Price Performance
Shares of NYSE:ALE opened at $57.45 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $59.16 and a 200 day moving average price of $61.41. The company has a quick ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. ALLETE has a twelve month low of $47.77 and a twelve month high of $67.45. The company has a market cap of $3.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.07, a PEG ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 0.72.
ALLETE (NYSE:ALE – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 3rd. The utilities provider reported $1.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19 by ($0.17). The company had revenue of $564.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $376.00 million. ALLETE had a return on equity of 5.40% and a net margin of 10.34%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 47.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.24 EPS. Research analysts predict that ALLETE will post 3.63 earnings per share for the current year.
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. 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.