Truist Financial Corp Reduces Holdings in ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE)

Truist Financial Corp lowered its position in ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) by 91.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 30,539 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 344,007 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp owned 0.05% of ALLETE worth $1,868,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of ALLETE by 2.1% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,402,795 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $338,068,000 after buying an additional 130,113 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in ALLETE by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,254,365 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $66,230,000 after purchasing an additional 6,421 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of ALLETE by 13.9% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 829,564 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $43,801,000 after purchasing an additional 101,229 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of ALLETE by 3.3% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 694,802 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $36,686,000 after purchasing an additional 21,938 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in shares of ALLETE by 29.7% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 564,120 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $29,786,000 after purchasing an additional 129,104 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.55% of the company’s stock.

ALLETE Price Performance

NYSE:ALE opened at $62.85 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.62 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. ALLETE, Inc. has a 52 week low of $49.29 and a 52 week high of $65.86. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $59.19 and its two-hundred day moving average is $58.50.

ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.97 by ($0.08). The company had revenue of $402.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $425.21 million. ALLETE had a return on equity of 7.31% and a net margin of 13.15%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.90 EPS. Equities analysts expect that ALLETE, Inc. will post 3.75 EPS for the current year.

ALLETE Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.705 per share. This represents a $2.82 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 14th. ALLETE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 65.58%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

ALLETE Company 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.