Gamco Investors INC. ET AL Buys 10,225 Shares of ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE)

Gamco Investors INC. ET AL boosted its position in ALLETE, Inc. (NYSE:ALE) by 23.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 54,753 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,225 shares during the quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL owned approximately 0.09% of ALLETE worth $3,548,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in ALLETE by 187.1% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 100,079 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,425,000 after acquiring an additional 65,222 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of ALLETE by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,395,362 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $89,584,000 after acquiring an additional 21,850 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new stake in ALLETE during the 3rd quarter worth about $282,000. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in ALLETE by 9.8% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 65,056 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,190,000 after purchasing an additional 5,799 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CWA Asset Management Group LLC raised its stake in shares of ALLETE by 13.5% in the fourth quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 19,613 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,271,000 after purchasing an additional 2,339 shares during the last quarter. 76.55% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

ALLETE Stock Down 0.2 %

ALLETE stock opened at $64.72 on Friday. ALLETE, Inc. has a 52 week low of $57.85 and a 52 week high of $65.99. The firm has a market cap of $3.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.88 and a beta of 0.69. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $65.34 and its 200 day moving average price is $64.98. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50.

ALLETE (NYSE:ALE) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The utilities provider reported $0.87 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.02 by ($0.15). ALLETE had a net margin of 11.72% and a return on equity of 5.97%.

ALLETE Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a dividend of $0.73 per share. This represents a $2.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.51%. This is an increase from ALLETE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. ALLETE’s dividend payout ratio 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.