On Thursday, the equity analysts working for StockNews.com disseminated a research study that initiated coverage of ALLETE.
The report was distributed to patrons and shareholders (NYSE: ALE).
The company advised customers to “sell” the utility’s stock to maximize profit.
On February 16th, Allete (NYSE: ALE) released its most recent quarterly earnings report.
The earnings the utility provider reported for the quarter were $0.90, which was $0.21 less than the average prediction of $1.11. However, the actual sales for the company came in at $425.80 million, which was a significant increase from the $404.81 million that analysts predicted would be the amount the company would bring in.
Allete had a return on equity of 5.73% and a net margin of 12.05% for the company overall. Compared to the same quarter in the previous year, the increase in revenue was 6.7% higher than expected.
The company generated an average of $1.18 in sales for each share during the same period the year before.
Analysts forecast that ALLETE will generate earnings of $3.67 per share for the current financial year.
NYSE: ALE started trading for the first time on Thursday, and the stock price was $63.27 when it did so.
The company’s market value is estimated to be $3.62 billion, while its price-to-earnings-growth ratio currently stands at 1.75, and its beta value equals 0.72.
The quick ratio is 0.37, the current ratio is 1, and the debt-to-equity ratio is 0.49.
All three ratios are in the 1:1 range.
All these figures should be interpreted in light of the overall sum owed.
The stock’s price has been trading at a moving average of $62.33 over the past 50 trading days, while the price has been trading at $60.27 over the last 200 trading days.
During its 52-week trading range, ALLETE experienced a new all-time low of $47.77 and a new all-time high of $68.46.
In recent times, other equity research analysts have penned various reports on the stock as part of research projects they have been working on.
Mizuho decreased its price objective on ALLETE shares from $60.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report published on Tuesday, January 24th. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded Allete from a rating of “equal weight” to a rating of “market weight” in a research report that was made public on January 30th, 2019.
The firm also decreased its price objective for the stock from $67.00 to $65.00. JPMorgan Chase & Co upgraded ALLETE from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a price objective of $65.00 for the stock in a research note published on Thursday, November 17th.
TheStreet upgraded ALLETE from a rating of “c+” to a rating of “b-” in a research note published on Friday, December 2nd. Guggenheim raised their price objective for ALLETE from $53.00 to $54.00 in a research note made public on January 23rd.
The last and most significant modification was made here.
In addition, they changed the rating for Allete from “neutral” to “sell,” reflecting their bearish sentiment regarding the stock.
There is a recommendation from one investing analyst to purchase the stock, while two others in the industry suggest selling it.
Most market participants share the recommendation to hold onto the stock.
According to the data made available by Bloomberg, the current recommendation for the company is “Hold,” and market analysts anticipate its price will reach $62.80 in the not-too-distant future.
During the previous few months, hedge funds have either increased or decreased the amount of the company’s stock that they hold.
During the third quarter, Quadrant Capital Group LLC witnessed a growth in the size of its ALLETE holdings, equivalent to a 41.8% increase.
As a result of acquiring an additional 166 shares during the most recent fiscal quarter, Quadrant Capital Group LLC now has 563 shares of the utilities provider’s stock.
Each share of this stock has a market value of $28,000, and the total value of Quadrant Capital Group LLC’s holdings is $28,000.
During the second quarter, Probity Advisors INC grew its holdings of ALLETE stock by 3.3%, bringing the total percentage of ALLETE shares it owned to a total of 1.9%. Following the acquisition of 197 additional shares during the most recent quarter of the fiscal year, Probity Advisors INC now directly owns 6,253 shares of the utility provider’s stock, the value of which is $368,000.
The State of Michigan Retirement System increased the amount of ALLETE stock that is owned by 1.4% during the period that encompassed the fourth quarter.
The State of Michigan Retirement System is now the owner of 14,546 shares of stock in the utility provider, collectively worth a total of $938,000.
This was accomplished by the purchase of an additional 200 shares throughout the period.
During the third quarter of the fiscal year, Eaton Vance Management increased the percentage of ALLETE shares it owned by 0.8%.
As a result of the purchase of 207 additional shares during the most recent quarter, Eaton Vance Management now directly owns 26,482 shares of the utility provider’s stock.
These shares have a value of $1,325,000, giving the portfolio a total value of $1,325,000.
And finally, during the final three months of 2018, Congress Asset Management Co, MA, added 1.4% more ALLETE shares to its existing holdings, bringing the total number of shares held by the company.
After making an additional purchase of 219 shares during the period in question, Congress Asset Management Co, MA, now has 16,094 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, currently valued at $1,038,000.
These shares were acquired due to the company’s decision to purchase additional shares during the period in question.
Institutional investors and hedge funds collectively hold a stake in the company equal to 77.52% of the total number of shares outstanding.
ALLETE, INC offers its customers various utility services, including electricity and natural gas.
The business is broken up into three distinct divisions: regulated activities, ALLETE clean energy, and corporate and other operations.
In addition to holding interests in ATC, which is responsible for monitoring utilities that own and operate electric transmission assets, the regulated operations section monitors regulated utilities. Some of these utilities include Minnesota Power and SWL&P.
The administration and control of these utilities fall under the purview of ATC.