ALLETE Inc. on Feb. 15 reported fourth-quarter 2017 net income attributable to the company of $41.4 million, or 81 cents per share, down from $44.3 million, or 89 cents per share, in the comparable period of 2016.

The S&P Capital IQ consensus normalized EPS estimate for the most recent quarter was 73 cents per share.

The company's regulated operations segment, which includes Minnesota Power Inc., Superior Water Light and Power Co. and its investment in American Transmission Co. LLC, contributed $18.3 million toward fourth-quarter 2017 net income, compared with $25.5 million in the same period of 2016.

ALLETE Clean Energy earned $30.4 million during the most recent quarter, a sharp increase from $3.7 million in the 2016 fourth quarter.

ALLETE's operating revenue dropped to $337.9 million in the 2017 fourth quarter from $341.5 million in the prior-year period, while operating income slid to $33.2 million from $61.1 million a year earlier.

On a full-year basis, ALLETE booked net income attributable to the company of $172.2 million, or $3.38 per share, in 2017, compared with $155.3 million, or $3.14 per share, in 2016.

The S&P Capital IQ consensus normalized EPS estimate for 2017 was $3.14 per share.

The company's operating revenue totaled $1.42 billion in 2017, from $1.34 billion in 2016.

ALLETE said its 2017 results were positively impacted by $13.0 million after-tax, or 25 cents per share, for the remeasurement of the company's income tax assets and liabilities resulting from the tax reform.

Separately, ALLETE initiated 2017 earnings guidance range of $3.20 per share to $3.50 per share on net income of $165 million to $185 million for 2018. The guidance includes about 10 cents per share of anticipated benefit from the tax reform, according to a Form 8-K filing.

The company has a long-term annual EPS growth target of 5% to 7%.