ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) Issues Earnings Results, Misses Estimates By $0.21 EPS

ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) released its earnings results on Wednesday. The utilities provider reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.99 by ($0.21), Briefing.com reports. ALLETE had a return on equity of 5.99% and a net margin of 11.49%. The company had revenue of $407.20 million during the quarter. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.49 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.5% on a year-over-year basis.

ALLETE Trading Up 0.2 %

ALE traded up $0.14 during trading on Friday, hitting $64.05. 207,548 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 358,500. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 1.45. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $63.98 and a 200 day simple moving average of $63.17. The firm has a market cap of $3.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.54 and a beta of 0.80. ALLETE has a 1 year low of $53.14 and a 1 year high of $65.86.

ALLETE Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.705 per share. This is a positive change from ALLETE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. This represents a $2.82 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. ALLETE’s payout ratio is currently 90.38%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ALE has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of ALLETE in a research report on Wednesday. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Sidoti raised shares of ALLETE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $62.00.

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.