Yousif Capital Management LLC Increases Stock Position in Otter Tail Co. (NASDAQ:OTTR)

Yousif Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Otter Tail Co. (NASDAQ:OTTR) by 3.6% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 21,370 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 743 shares during the quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Otter Tail were worth $1,816,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of OTTR. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Otter Tail by 8,231.5% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 187,958 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $15,971,000 after buying an additional 185,702 shares during the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Otter Tail by 32.0% in the third quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 545,488 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $41,413,000 after buying an additional 132,162 shares during the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers increased its stake in shares of Otter Tail by 10.7% during the third quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 116,001 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,807,000 after acquiring an additional 11,173 shares during the period. Jump Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Otter Tail during the third quarter worth about $698,000. Finally, QRG Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Otter Tail during the third quarter worth about $456,000. 61.32% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Otter Tail Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of Otter Tail stock opened at $86.71 on Thursday. Otter Tail Co. has a 52-week low of $68.96 and a 52-week high of $99.49. The company has a quick ratio of 1.36, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $84.62 and its 200-day simple moving average is $83.02. The firm has a market cap of $3.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.39 and a beta of 0.56.

Otter Tail (NASDAQ:OTTR) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $1.25 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.03. Otter Tail had a net margin of 21.81% and a return on equity of 21.64%. The company had revenue of $314.31 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $300.60 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.00 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Otter Tail Co. will post 5.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Otter Tail Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 8th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 15th were given a dividend of $0.468 per share. This is a positive change from Otter Tail’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. This represents a $1.87 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.16%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 14th. Otter Tail’s dividend payout ratio is presently 26.71%.

Otter Tail Company Profile

Otter Tail Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in electric utility, manufacturing, and plastic pipe businesses in the United States. It operates through three segments: Electric, Manufacturing, and Plastics. The Electric segment produces, transmits, distributes, and sells electric energy in Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota; and operates as a participant in the Midcontinent Independent System Operator markets.