Legal & General Group Plc Invests $7.67 Million in Otter Tail Corporation $OTTR

Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new stake in Otter Tail Corporation (NASDAQ:OTTR) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 85,285 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $7,674,000. Legal & General Group Plc owned about 0.20% of Otter Tail as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in Otter Tail during the 2nd quarter worth $590,053,000. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Otter Tail by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,019,262 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $82,385,000 after buying an additional 4,164 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management raised its position in shares of Otter Tail by 217.6% in the fourth quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 536,941 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $43,390,000 after buying an additional 367,869 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its stake in shares of Otter Tail by 31.6% in the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 409,157 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $31,542,000 after buying an additional 98,243 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in shares of Otter Tail in the second quarter worth about $32,238,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 61.32% of the company’s stock.

Otter Tail Stock Down 1.0%

Shares of OTTR opened at $89.59 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $3.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.31 and a beta of 0.44. Otter Tail Corporation has a 12-month low of $74.15 and a 12-month high of $95.09. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $91.24 and its 200 day moving average price is $88.88. The company has a current ratio of 1.71, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60.

Otter Tail (NASDAQ:OTTR) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The utilities provider reported $1.66 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.15. Otter Tail had a net margin of 14.83% and a return on equity of 14.56%. The company had revenue of $334.38 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $326.13 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.85 earnings per share. Otter Tail’s revenue was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Otter Tail Corporation will post 5.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Otter Tail Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Investors of record on Friday, August 14th will be issued a $0.5775 dividend. This represents a $2.31 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 14th. Otter Tail’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 49.78%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on OTTR shares. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Otter Tail from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Monday, August 24th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Otter Tail from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Siebert Williams Shank cut Otter Tail from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $86.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. UBS Group restated a “reduce” rating on shares of Otter Tail in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Finally, KeyCorp reaffirmed a “sector weight” rating on shares of Otter Tail in a report on Monday, June 1st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $86.00.

About Otter Tail

Otter Tail Corporation, through its primary subsidiary Otter Tail Power Company, is a regulated electric utility engaged in the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity. The company operates a diversified portfolio of owned and contracted power generation facilities, including coal, natural gas, wind and hydroelectric units, supplemented by long-term power purchase agreements. In addition to utility operations, Otter Tail provides related engineering, construction and maintenance services to support grid reliability and efficiency.

The company’s service territory covers a predominantly rural footprint in the Upper Midwest, including communities in west-central Minnesota, eastern North Dakota, northwest Wisconsin and small portions of South Dakota.