Otter Tail Corporation $OTTR Shares Purchased by Whittier Trust Co.

Whittier Trust Co. increased its stake in Otter Tail Corporation (NASDAQ:OTTR) by 10.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 99,012 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,966 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co.’s holdings in Otter Tail were worth $8,767,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Otter Tail by 17.8% in the 3rd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,464,613 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $120,054,000 after purchasing an additional 221,039 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Otter Tail by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,019,262 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $82,385,000 after buying an additional 4,164 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Otter Tail by 77.3% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 605,504 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $49,633,000 after buying an additional 264,009 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management raised its position in shares of Otter Tail by 217.6% during the 4th 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 period. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in shares of Otter Tail by 31.6% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 409,157 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $31,542,000 after buying an additional 98,243 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 61.32% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Siebert Williams Shank cut Otter Tail from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $86.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Otter Tail from a “hold (c)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Monday, May 11th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “reduce” rating on shares of Otter Tail in a research note on Friday, May 29th. KeyCorp reiterated a “sector weight” rating on shares of Otter Tail in a report on Monday, June 1st. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded Otter Tail from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Otter Tail currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $86.00.

Otter Tail Trading Up 2.1%

NASDAQ:OTTR traded up $1.92 on Tuesday, reaching $92.41. 36,113 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 264,043. The business has a fifty day moving average of $88.32 and a 200-day moving average of $87.10. 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 Corporation has a 52-week low of $74.15 and a 52-week high of $92.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.83 and a beta of 0.45.

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

Otter Tail Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 15th were issued a $0.5775 dividend. This represents a $2.31 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 15th. Otter Tail’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.