Kennedy Capital Management LLC Sells 8,502 Shares of ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE)

Kennedy Capital Management LLC decreased its stake in shares of ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) by 5.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 136,822 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 8,502 shares during the quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC owned about 0.24% of ALLETE worth $8,866,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of ALE. Neuberger Berman Group LLC lifted its stake in ALLETE by 8.3% in the 4th quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 398,673 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $25,825,000 after purchasing an additional 30,479 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of ALLETE in the fourth quarter worth about $3,522,000. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in ALLETE by 14.2% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 331,472 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $21,479,000 after buying an additional 41,315 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can grew its holdings in ALLETE by 13.0% during the 4th quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 11,173 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $724,000 after buying an additional 1,289 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC increased its stake in ALLETE by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 27,786 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,800,000 after acquiring an additional 706 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.55% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of ALLETE in a research note on Friday, January 10th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company.

ALLETE Price Performance

Shares of ALLETE stock opened at $64.62 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $65.43 and a 200-day moving average price of $64.97. ALLETE, Inc. has a one year low of $56.66 and a one year high of $65.99. The stock has a market cap of $3.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.85 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 1.08.

ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The utilities provider reported $0.87 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 paid a $0.73 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $2.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.52%. This is an increase from ALLETE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. ALLETE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 94.19%.

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.