Groupe la Francaise Acquires New Position in Allete, Inc. $ALE

Groupe la Francaise bought a new position in Allete, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 114,116 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $7,311,000. Groupe la Francaise owned about 0.20% of Allete at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in shares of Allete by 1.2% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 16,642 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,066,000 after purchasing an additional 194 shares during the period. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Allete by 2.7% during the 1st quarter. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 10,641 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $699,000 after acquiring an additional 284 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabama lifted its stake in Allete by 0.4% during the second quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 70,768 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,534,000 after purchasing an additional 295 shares during the period. Probity Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Allete by 5.7% during the 2nd quarter. Probity Advisors Inc. now owns 7,038 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $451,000 after buying an additional 378 shares during the period. Finally, Strs Ohio boosted its stake in shares of Allete by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 18,300 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,172,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.55% of the company’s stock.

Allete Stock Down 0.0%

Allete stock opened at $67.63 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $67.21 and its 200-day moving average is $65.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.93 billion, a PE ratio of 23.73 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 0.73. Allete, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $62.38 and a fifty-two week high of $67.67.

Allete (NYSE:ALE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.46 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.80 by ($0.34). The company had revenue of $375.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $434.90 million. Allete had a net margin of 11.04% and a return on equity of 5.08%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on ALE. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Allete in a research note on Monday. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Allete from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, Allete has an average rating of “Buy”.

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.