Otter Tail (NASDAQ:OTTR) Rating Lowered to “Hold” at Zacks Research

Otter Tail (NASDAQ:OTTR) was downgraded by equities researchers at Zacks Research from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on OTTR. Weiss Ratings raised Otter Tail from a “hold (c)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. Siebert Williams Shank downgraded Otter Tail from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $86.00 price target for the company. in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $86.00.

Otter Tail Price Performance

OTTR opened at $87.29 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $87.97 and its two-hundred day moving average is $86.03. Otter Tail has a 1 year low of $74.15 and a 1 year high of $92.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 2.04 and a quick ratio of 1.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.66 billion, a PE ratio of 13.09 and a beta of 0.47.

Otter Tail (NASDAQ:OTTR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.73 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.42 by $0.31. The business had revenue of $347.03 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $339.10 million. Otter Tail had a return on equity of 15.21% and a net margin of 21.34%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.62 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Otter Tail will post 5.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its holdings in Otter Tail by 3.5% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 336,483 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $29,533,000 after acquiring an additional 11,363 shares during the period. Amundi lifted its holdings in Otter Tail by 47.1% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 8,217 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $721,000 after acquiring an additional 2,631 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its holdings in Otter Tail by 24.5% in the first quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 44,504 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,906,000 after acquiring an additional 8,750 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its holdings in Otter Tail by 30.8% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 178,161 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $15,637,000 after acquiring an additional 41,924 shares during the period. Finally, Infrastructure Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Otter Tail by 15.5% in the first quarter. Infrastructure Capital Advisors LLC now owns 6,794 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $596,000 after acquiring an additional 910 shares during the period. 61.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.