MUFG Securities EMEA plc Takes Position in Otter Tail Corporation $OTTR

MUFG Securities EMEA plc purchased a new stake in Otter Tail Corporation (NASDAQ:OTTR) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 44,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,556,000.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Otter Tail in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,115,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in Otter Tail by 77.3% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 605,504 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $49,633,000 after purchasing an additional 264,009 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP raised its holdings in Otter Tail by 17.8% during the third quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,464,613 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $120,054,000 after purchasing an additional 221,039 shares during the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board raised its holdings in Otter Tail by 27.5% during the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 182,086 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $14,926,000 after purchasing an additional 39,226 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management raised its holdings in Otter Tail by 183.2% during the third quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 169,072 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $13,859,000 after purchasing an additional 109,372 shares during the last quarter. 61.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group reaffirmed a “reduce” rating on shares of Otter Tail in a report on Friday. Weiss Ratings raised Otter Tail from a “hold (c)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. Zacks Research cut Otter Tail from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. Siebert Williams Shank cut Otter Tail from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $86.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, KeyCorp reaffirmed a “sector weight” rating on shares of Otter Tail in a report on Monday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $86.00.

Otter Tail Stock Performance

NASDAQ OTTR opened at $83.62 on Tuesday. Otter Tail Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $74.15 and a fifty-two week high of $92.24. The stock has a market cap of $3.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.54 and a beta of 0.45. The business has a fifty day moving average of $87.88 and a 200-day moving average of $86.03. The company has a quick ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 2.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56.

Otter Tail (NASDAQ:OTTR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.73 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.42 by $0.31. The company had revenue of $347.03 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $339.10 million. Otter Tail had a return on equity of 15.21% and a net margin of 21.34%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.62 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Otter Tail Corporation will post 5.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Otter Tail Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Investors of record on Friday, May 15th will be paid a $0.5775 dividend. This represents a $2.31 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 15th. Otter Tail’s dividend payout ratio is presently 34.63%.

Otter Tail Profile

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.